KHYBER/PESHAWAR: A police constable was martyred in a midnight attack on a police check post in Tehsil Bara of district Khyber tribal district, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa police said on Monday.

The martyred constable, Naseem Khan was on duty at the Al Haj post in the Bara area when the militants attacked with sniper rifles.

The attackers managed to flee while no group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack.

The funeral of the martyred cop was offered at the Shah Kas police lines which was attended by Peshawar Capital City Police Officer Mohammad Ijaz Khan and the Khyber DPO Saleem Abbas Kulachi, along with other police officials and notables of the area.

Separately, a police post came under attack on Sunday night in the Adezai area, some 30km south of Peshawar.

According to the police, unknown attackers hurled a hand grenade which blew up near the post. This was followed by intense firing which damaged motorbikes parked near the police post. No loss of life was reported in the attack.

The attack took place around 12:15am, said Imranuddin, the SHO of Mattani police station, where the post was located.

He told Dawn that empties have been collected from the spot and sent for analysis while the Counter Terrorism Department has been requested to register a case.

The attacks come amid a surge in terrorist activities across the country, especially in KP and Balochistan, since the outlawed militant group Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan ended its ceasefire

with the government in November 2022.

In his maiden press briefing in April, ISPR Director General Maj Gen Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry said that at least 293 people were martyred and 521 were injured in 436 terrorist incidents over the past year.

In KP, 192 people were martyred in 219 terror activities, while 80 people lost lives in 206 incidents in Balochistan, 14 people in five attacks in Punjab, and seven in six terrorism incidents across Sindh.

Published in Dawn, May 9th, 2023