At least four policemen were shot dead when unidentified assailants sprayed their vehicle with bullets in Lakki Marwat district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Tuesday night, police said.

According to police officials, the cops were patrolling in a van near a local hotel, located around six kilometres off Lakki City when gunmen riding a motorcycle waylaid them and opened fire. As a result, the four cops in the vehicle died on the spot. Their bodies were subsequently shifted to a nearby hospital.

District Police Officer Shahzada Umar Abbas Babar told Dawn.com that unidentified armed men ambushed the police van at around 10:45pm on Tuesday, resulting in the deaths of the four cops. He informed that law enforcers were searching for the suspects, who managed to escape the scene after the attack.

The DPO said the police had also collected evidence from the crime scene, while further investigation was underway.

A day ago, two people, including a policeman, were killed in separate incidents in Bannu and Lakki Marwat districts.

Unidentified motorcyclists shot dead police constable, Ihsanullah, in Mandan area of Bannu. He said the slain cop was a detective foot constable and posted to the cantonment police station.

The martyred policeman was laid to rest at his ancestral graveyard in Bannu.

Separately, a man allegedly gunned down his brother over an irrigation water dispute in Kotka Aamand area of Serai Gambila town of Lakki Marwat.

The local police had later registered a case against the killer.