MANSEHRA, Nov 13: Two policemen were injured on Tuesday when over two dozen armed men chanting slogans in favour of the Taliban hurled two grenades on a police checkpost in the Khaki town, 13km north of here.

The injured policemen were taken to the District Headquarters Hospital in Mansehra and later shifted to the Ayub Medical Complex in Abbottabad.

Local people said the assailants escaped when police opened fire on them. According to them, the assailants appeared to be outsiders and conversed with each other in Pashto.

Deputy superintendent of police Shah Nazar Khan told journalists that timber smugglers were behind the attack because they did not like the checkpost in the area.

The assailants sent by the timber mafia pretended to be Taliban in order to hide their identity. “It’s not the act of any religious group; it’s the work of the timber mafia.”

He said police had got some lead and hoped to bust the gang soon.