At least five police personnel were martyred and 22 others were injured in a bomb attack on a police vehicle in tehsil Mamond of Bajaur district in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) on Monday.
The police personnel were on their way to perform security duty for polio vaccinators when their vehicle was targeted.
Police officials confirmed the casualties and said the area was cordoned off soon after the explosion. The dead and injured were transported to nearby medical facilities.
Rescue 1122 officials said some of the injured police personnel are in critical condition and an emergency has been declared at Khar Hospital.
A police spokesperson confirmed that all the injured and dead were from the provincial police force and were deputed for polio duty.
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Last year, a suicide blast targeted a political gathering and killed at least 63 people.
The blast occurred in Khar tehsil of the district, a town bordering Afghanistan. According to eyewitnesses, hundreds of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) workers along with the local leader were present at the convention when the suicide blast ripped through it. The Islamic State-Khorasan claimed the deadly suicide bombing.
As per the Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD), 560 acts of terrorism were reported in the tribal areas of K-P in 2023.
Moreover, 99 cases of extortion were reported last year compared to 55 in 2022. A further breakdown of the data obtained from the CTD shows that there have been 209 attacks on security personnel in 2023 compared to 124 in 2022; 243 attacks on police compared to 118 in 2022; 167 policemen and officers have attained martyrdom in terrorist attacks in 2023, compared to 83 in 2022; and 101 soldiers and officers have attained martyrdom last year, compared to 96 in the year before last.
According to the CTD, D.I. Khan topped the list of districts hit by terrorism with 86 events, followed by Khyber with 72, North Waziristan with 78, Peshawar with 52, North Waziristan with 48, Bannu with 36, and Bajaur with 33.
The data points to the fact that terrorism incidents near the Afghan border have increased as only 16 incidents of terrorism took place in Malakand, Swat, and Dir, which do not border Afghanistan.
Source link: https://tribune.com.pk/story/2452541/at-least-five-police-personnel-martyred-22-injured-in-bajaur-bomb-attack