Three traffic police personnel were injured on Thursday when a police van was attacked while patrolling the Dara Pezo area of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Lakki Marwat district, according to police.

Pakistan has witnessed an uptick in terror activities over the past year, especially in KP and Balochistan, after the proscribed Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) ended its ceasefire with the government in November 2022.

In a statement, District Police Officer (DPO) Mohammad Jawad Ishaq said that three cops were injured when their police van came under fire from “heavy guns”.

“The police van caught fire during the attack,” the DPO said. “The terrorists then fled to a village in Tank district.”

Later in the day, DPO Ishaq visited Lakki Marwat District Headquarters Hospital and enquired about the condition of the injured. He met the family members of the injured and assured them of support.

“Miscreants want to sabotage the peace through acts of terrorism and spreading fear, but Lakki police are committed and capable of defeating and countering such attempts,” DPO Ishaq added.

According to a separate statement by the DPO, Lakki Marwat Police and the Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) conducted a “search and strike operation against the TTP and its facilitators.

“On the instructions of DPO Lakki Marwat … Lakki DSP (Deputy Superintendent of Police) Zafarullah Khan, along with CTD DSP, district police, Elite Force and CTD personnel along with armoured vehicles, carried out [a] joint search and strike operations in Wanda Amir area of ​​Saddar Police Station,” the statement read.

The statement added that hideouts allegedly belonging to TTP were raided and weapons and ammunition were seized.

“The aim of the search and strike operation is to maintain peace and order in the area, suppress anti-social elements and provide a safe environment to honourable and respectable citizens,” the statement concluded.

On Tuesday, the Mianwali police and the CTD had conducted a successful joint operation against terrorists in Makarwal, killing at least 10 of them and injuring several others.