Two policemen were gunned down in a “terrorist” attack on Wednesday in Kulachi area of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Dera Ismail Khan district, police said.

Speaking to Dawn.com, DI Khan Police Spokesperson, Yaqoob Khan, said, “The two police personnel were on their way to buy food when the terrorists opened fire on them.”

The deceased have been identified as head constable Ghulam Muhammad and constable Shahzad, both of whom were ex-servicemen.

Following the attack, police and Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) personnel tracked down the terrorists and killed one of them during an operation, while the other two, though injured, fled.

“Weapons and ammunition have been recovered from the slain terrorist, while a search operation is underway for the terrorists at large,” according to the spokesperson.

Federal Minister for Interior Mohsin Naqvi condemned the attack, paying tribute to the martyred personnel.

He saluted the “sacrifices made by the brave sons” of KP in their fight against terrorism. Expressing sympathy for the families of the deceased, he said that the government stands with them at this difficult time.

Naqvi vowed that “their sacrifices will not go in vain”.

“KP police is leading the fight against terrorism in the country,” he noted.

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. KP has seen an increasing trend of terrorism-related incidents, with a series of attacks across Peshawar, Karak, Bannu, Lakki Marwat, and Bajaur in the past few months.

On June 21, KP Police killed a terrorist and injured two others belonging to the TTP group in Dera Ismail Khan as they attempted to attack the police.

On June 3, terrorist attacks on two police stations in KP’s Bajaur and Bannu districts injured four police personnel. In May, two policemen were martyred and two were injured in a suicide attack in Peshawar, while in a separate incident, two cops lost their lives as a result of an attack on a police checkpoint in Bannu.

Faced with increasing attacks by militants, security forces have also intensified counterterrorism operations in KP and Balochistan.

On July 5, three suspected terrorists belonging to the TTP’s Tipu Gul group were killed in a joint operation by the CTD.

Pakistan ranked second in the Global Terrorism Index 2025, with the number of deaths in terrorist attacks rising by 45 per cent over the past year to 1,081.