At least three policemen were yesterday killed by two Taliban gunmen in Pakistan’s restive Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in what appeared to be a targeted attack, police said. “Three policemen have been shot dead in Landy Sarak in Khazana area,” a police official said, adding “The men were travelling in a van when they were targeted by armed motorcyclists who fired 12 bullets from a rifle.” “It seems like a case of a targeted attack. The attackers were on motorbikes who intercepted the vehicle,” the official said.
The Afghanistan-based Jamaatul Ahrar militant group, a splinter faction of the outlawed Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), claimed responsibility for the attack, The Express Tribune reported. The group’s spokesperson, Ehsaanullah Ehsan, said in a statement that the TTP JA gunmen carried out the attack. Islamic militants have been involved in multiple such attacks in and around the provincial capital surrounded by lawless tribal regions.
Earlier last week, a doctor associated with an anti-polio campaign was also gunned down in the same area.