PESHAWR, Jan 5: Militants destroyed a police checkpost on the Indus Highway by targeting it with rockets here early Monday morning.

A police official said the militants had fired rockets from different directions, four of them hitting the Arbab Tako police post, damaging the building. However, police personnel deployed there remained unhurt.

In retaliation, he said, police also opened fire and repulsed the attackers. He said blood stains found around the police post showed that some militants had suffered injuries but they had been taken away by their associates while fleeing.

Answering a question, the official said that after an operation against militants last year they had fled the area, but the attack showed that they had returned back to the area, adding that they were still in the hideouts.

Police continued checking of people in different areas, especially in city localities, and restricted movement of people in Qissakhwani, Kohati and areas linking procession routes.

Meanwhile, another official said additional security personnel had been deployed in the limits of six police stations, including Hashtnagri, Khan Razig Shaheed, C-Division and Gulbahar.

He said additional sub-inspectors had also been deployed in the police stations to assist the station house officers concerned.

SSP (coordination) Qazi Jamilur Rehman, when contacted, told Dawn that militants were trying to target security personnel, especially in rural areas.

He said police personnel had been provided with heavy weapons and other relevant equipment, besides increasing the manpower, so that they could counter the attacks.