Militants attacked a police post in northwestern Pakistan on Wednesday, killing five officers and wounding approximately two dozen others in a gunbattle that continued in the Hangu district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. Local police official Irfan Khan stated that four attackers were killed by police during the engagement. Some of the injured officers were reported to be in critical condition.
No group has immediately claimed responsibility for the assault. The Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), commonly known as the Pakistani Taliban, is a likely suspect, as the group has intensified its attacks on Pakistani security forces in the region in recent months. The TTP is a distinct group but maintains close ties with the Afghan Taliban, which regained control of neighboring Afghanistan in 2021.
This incident follows Pakistan’s military announcement that security forces had killed 32 militants in intelligence-based operations across northwestern and southwestern Pakistan over the preceding 24 hours. Pakistan has experienced a significant rise in militant activity in recent years, with much of this violence attributed to the TTP. Islamabad has frequently accused Afghanistan's Taliban government of harboring TTP militants, an allegation that Kabul denies.