Militant attack on a police post in restive northwestern Pakistan leaves 3 officers dead

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — A group of militants armed with assault rifles attacked a police post in restive northwestern Pakistan before dawn on Thursday, killing three officers and wounding five before fleeing the scene, police said.

The attack occurred in Karak, a district in the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province bordering Afghanistan, local police official Abbas Khan said. He said officers also returned fire after coming under the attack.

No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.

In a statement, Pakistan’s Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi condemned the attack and offered his condolences to the families of the slain officers. He blamed the Pakistani Taliban for the attack.

Pakistan has in recent months witnessed a surge in militant attacks, most of them blamed on Pakistani Taliban, known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan or TTP. While the TTP is an ally of the Afghan Taliban who seized power in Afghanistan in 2021, it’s a separate group.