Two police officials were martyred and three were injured in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Lakki Marwat when unidentified gunmen attacked a patrolling vehicle on Monday, according to an official.

Lakki Marwat District Police Officer (DPO) Tariq Habib told Dawn.com that the gunmen launched an assault on a patrolling vehicle from the Pizo Police Station, resulting in the immediate death of two officers.

Following the incident, a large contingent of police officers arrived at the scene, cordoned off the area and launched an investigation into the incident, he added.

Separately, unidentified attackers targeted a police checkpoint in Swat and injured an officer.

Swat DPO Shafiullah told Dawn.com that the assailants, whose identities remain unknown, targeted a checkpoint in the Talegra area. Consequently, one police officer sustained injuries and was transported to Saidu Sharif Teaching Hospital, the DPO added.

Subsequently, he said a police team arrived at the scene and initiated a search operation within the adjacent mountainous regions to apprehend the attackers.

Last week, four people, including a passerby, were killed and two others injured when gunmen opened fire on their rivals during a weekly fair in the Landiwah area of Lakki Marwat district.

Surge in terrorism

The attacks come as terrorism in Pakistan has been rearing its head again. Over the past few months, the law and order situation in the country — especially in KP and Balochistan has worsened — with terrorist groups executing attacks with near impunity across the country.

Since the talks with the proscribed Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) broke down in November, the militant group has intensified its attacks, particularly targeting the police in KP and areas bordering Afghanistan. Insurgents in Balochistan have also stepped up their violent activities and formalised a nexus with the outlawed TTP.

In January, a powerful suicide blast in a mosque in Peshawar Police Lines killed 84 people and injured many others.

According to statistics released by the Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies, an Islamabad-based think-tank, January remained one of the deadliest months since July 2018, as 134 people lost their lives — a 139 per cent spike — and 254 received injuries in at least 44 militant attacks across the country.

Additional input from Murad Ali Khan.