At least 10 police personnel martyred, 6 others injured in attack on police station in DI Khan
DERA ISMAIL KHAN/ISLAMABAD, Feb 05 (SABAH): At least 10 cops were martyred in another late-night terrorist attack on a police station in Dera Ismail Khan district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Monday. Among the injured are an SHO and five more policemen.
According to the police, terrorists entered the Chodhwan police station after sniping officers standing guard around it. Inside the station, they hurled grenades as well as shot at police officers they encountered.
Four of the martyred cops belonged to the Elite Force. They were identified as ASI Kausar, Ehteram, Rafiullah and Hameed-ul-Haq. Identities of the six other cops were revealed as Mohammad Aslam, Ghulam Farid, Mohammad Javed, Mohammad Idrees, Mohammad Imran and Mansoor.
The injured were identified as Ahmad Hussain, Akbar Zaman, Inayatullah, Sohrab Khan, Ibrahim and Naseeb Khan.
At around 3:00 AM militants attacked the police station with sniper fire and then entered the building, said police officers.
“After entering the building, the terrorists used hand grenades which caused more casualties to the police,” said Malik Anees ul Hassan, the deputy superintendent of police in Draban. As per the DSP, the SHO Chodhwan police station’s condition was stable.
“More than 30 terrorists launched an attack from three directions. There was an exchange of fire for over two-and-a-half hours,” Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provincial police chief Akhtar Hayat Gandapur told a foreign news agency.
Gandapur told that the attackers briefly seized control of the police station during the assault in the early hours of Monday.
Following the attack, a clearance operation was initiated by police officers as well as military personnel. The latter had taken up security duties around the police station and were also leading a clearance operation in the forests nearby.
The security officials set up checkpoints in DI Khan, and were carrying out snap-checking on the routes leading to and from South Waziristan and Darazinda.
The attack further complicates the security situation in K-P as the country heads to polls in four days.
Caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar has strongly condemned the terrorist attack on a police station in Daraban area of Dera Ismail Khan. In a statement, he said such cowardly acts cannot shake our resolve against terrorism. He commended the police personnel for thwarting the attack on the police station.
Paying tributes to the martyrs, he said the entire nation stands with the security forces.
The Prime Minister directed to provide every possible medical treatment to those injured in the attack. Condoling with the bereaved families, he prayed for the departed souls.
Caretaker Minister for Information and Broadcasting Murtaza Solangi has denounced the attack on a police station in Dera Ismail Khan.
In a statement, he paid tributes to the sacrifices of security personnel for the security of the motherland.
The Information Minister said the terrorists are enemies of peace and stability of the country. He said the cowardly acts of terrorism cannot dampen our spirits.
He said the nation stands side by side with police and security forces to eliminate terrorism. He said any attempt to harm national security will be dealt with iron hands.
Caretaker KP Chief Minister Justice (retd) Arshad Hussain Shah condemned the attack and expressed his grief over the loss of lives.
In a statement, he conveyed his sympathies to the families of the martyrs and prayed for the speedy recovery of the injured.
CM Shah said KP police had rendered “eternal sacrifices” for peace in the province and that “such cowardly attacks would not demoralise them”.
He asserted that the government would help the bereaved in “every way possible”.
Former prime minister and PML-N President Mian Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif expressed his condolences over the attack and said that such attacks would only strengthen the KP police’s “determination to achieve peace”.
Condemning the incident, ex-president Asif Ali Zardari said that implementation of the National Action Plan was the only way to eliminate terrorism. “Peace will be achieved by destroying the nurseries of terrorists,” he said in a statement posted on X.