Two cops were martyred while another three were injured in the early hours of Tuesday when terrorists attacked a police checkpost in the Gunangar area of Shangla district’s Chakesar Tehsil in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, officials said.

After the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) broke a fragile ceasefire agreement with the government in 2022, the country witnessed a sharp uptick in the number of attacks targeting security forces and other law enforcement agencies, particularly in Balochistan and KP.

According to the interior ministry, in the past 10 months, 948 out of 1,566 terrorism incidents reported occurred in KP, resulting in 583 deaths (out of a total of 924 martyrdoms).

Umar Rehman, spokesperson for the Shangla district police officer (DPO), told Dawn.com that Mohammad Hassan, an assistant sub-inspector from Alpuri, and head constable Nisar Ahmad got martyred in the attack, while three constables were injured.

Rehman added that preliminary information suggested the checkpost was struck with heavy weapons, such as rocket launchers and hand grenades, due to which the walls of the checkpost’s small building collapsed, burying a constable beneath.

The injured police personnel were moved to the district headquarters hospital in Battagram by locals and officials of the Dandai police station, Rehman said.

The incident took place in Chakesar tehsil’s Gunangar, which is a remote area near the Karakoram Highway and the Indus River.

Police have cordoned off the area and began a search, while more police contingents have been called.

It is the second attack in Shangla in the last three days as a civilian was killed and two cops were injured in an attack on a checkpost in Puran tehsil on Saturday.

Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi condemned the attack, paying tribute to the martyred policemen.

Expressing his grief on the loss of lives, he prayed for the speedy recovery of the injured.

“The martyrs are our pride. We are standing tall with their families,” Naqvi said in a statement.

He highlighted that the KP police has played a leading role in the war against terrorism, stressing that their sacrifices could not be forgotten.