Three cops were martyred while another six were injured in an attack on a police checkpost in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Karak district late last night, officials said on Thursday.

Pakistan has recently witnessed an uptick in terrorist activities, especially in KP and Balochistan. Attacks increased after the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) broke a fragile ceasefire agreement with the government in 2022, vowing to target security officials and the police force.

According to a statement from the KP Police Central Office, “Unknown terrorists opened fire from all sides at a checkpost in Karak’s Bahadur Khel area, targeting police personnel using light and heavy weapons in an attempt to capture the checkpost.”

Policemen present at the checkpost fired back in an encounter which lasted two hours, following which the terrorists fled, the statement said.

Police personnel injured in the firing were shifted to Karak District Headquarter Hospital, while three of the injured were sent to Peshawar for further treatment, according to District Police Officer Shehbaz Elahi.

The funeral prayers of the three martyred cops — identified as Taimur Hayat, Naqeeb and Adnan — were offered at the Karak Police Lines this morning.

KP Inspector General of Police (IG) Zulfiqar Hameed, Kohat Regional Police Officer Abbas Majeed, Kohat Commissioner Mautasim Balallah, Karak Deputy Commissioner Shakeel Jan, and other civil officers were among the attendees.

IG Hameed met the bereaved family members and assured them that the blood of the martyred would not go in vain.

The bodies of the martyred police personnel have been sent to their respective native areas.

“Our jawaans fought bravely and thwarted the enemy’s attack,” IG Hameed said while speaking to the media in Karak this morning.

“The cowardly terrorists wanted to lay siege to this checkpost, overpower it and take over our personnel. However, the terrorists were unsuccessful in their attempts and fled,” he said.

The IG further said that KP police would take good care of the families of the martyred personnel.

“KP police will uproot the menace of terrorism. The terrorists want to cause harm to the people, but the people and KP police are united,” IG Hameed said.

“Nothing will prevent us from uprooting the menace of terrorism.”

While responding to a media question, IG Hameed said KP police will “find terrorists wherever they are hiding and ensure that justice is served”, adding that all resources will be used to achieve this goal.

The IG visited the injured personnel at the Karak DHQ Hospital and directed the doctors present to provide the best treatment possible.

IG Hameed later visited the Bahadur Khel checkpost for a detailed inspection, where he assessed the planning and methodology of the attack. He also issued instructions to senior police officials present on the spot.

Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi condemned the attack and paid tribute to the police personnel martyred in the firing. He also expressed his condolences to the families of the martyred personnel.

“We salute the sacrifice of the martyred officers of the KP police,” he was quoted as saying in a statement on X by the interior ministry. “The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa police are on the front lines in the war against terrorism.”

Uptick in terror attacks

According to the Centre for Research and Security Studies (CRSS) think-tank, 2024 was the deadliest year for the civil and military security forces of Pakistan in a decade, with at least 685 members of security forces losing their lives amid a total of 444 terror attacks.

Data from another think-tank, the Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies (PICSS), revealed that terror attacks across the country surged by 42 per cent in January, resulting in an intensified counterterrorism campaign by security forces.

A police official was injured last month when motorcyclists attacked a police party in the Takht-i-Nusrati area of Karak district.

In the same month, a clean-up operation was launched in the mountainous terrain of Banda Daud Shah in Karak district to flush out terrorists and eliminate their hideouts.