A soldier was martyred and another injured when unknown assailants opened fire on them near Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Bannu district on Sunday, according to the police.

Recently, multiple areas of KP — including Bannu, Peshawar, Karak, Lakki Marwat and Bajaur — have seen a series of terrorist attacks, particularly targeting police personnel.

Spokesperson for Bannu Police Kashif Nawaz told Dawn.com, “A security personnel was killed and another was injured when they were attacked by unknown assailants near the Ayub fuel station on Miranshah road.”

He added that the body and the injured were rushed to the District Headquarters Hospital in Bannu, while a police team was dispatched to the site of the incident to collect information.

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 and vowed to target security forces, the police, and other law enforcement agencies.

Last month, a police constable was shot dead by unknown assailants in Bannu while he was on his way to work. On September 2, six soldiers were martyred, while five terrorists were killed as security forces thwarted an attack on the Federal Constabulary (FC) Headquarters in Bannu.

According to the military’s media wing, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the Indian sponsored kharjis (seceders) attempted to breach the perimeter security; however, “their nefarious designs were swiftly foiled by the vigilant and resolute response of the Pakistani troops.”

In August, a police constable was martyred in a terrorist attack on a checkpoint in Bannu, where an exchange of fire also left three terrorists dead and three policemen injured.