New Delhi: Fresh violence has rocked Pakistan’s restive Khyber Pakhtunkhwa region amid Governor’s Rule, with at least 10 police officers and 18 militants killed in a gunbattle on Wednesday after militants ambushed a convoy of police vehicles in Kohat district.
The attack took place as police officers were returning from an operation against suspects involved in illegal gold mining near Kohat, local reports said. Two senior police officers were among those killed, Khan said. The exchange of fire between security forces and the attackers continued for several hours.
The Pakistani Taliban, also known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP, claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement issued hours later. The group has intensified its attacks on Pakistani security forces in recent months, particularly in the country’s northwestern border regions.
In a statement, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa police said 18 militants had also been killed in the ensuing gunbattle.
The police alleged that the attackers had acted in collusion with criminal networks, and said the assault pointed to links between the militants and groups involved in illegal activities. They further claimed that the two had joined hands at the behest of foreign powers, but provided no evidence to support the allegation.
The incident came a day after the Kohat deputy commissioner imposed a 60-day ban on parking excavators within Blocks C and D of the placer gold mining area, as well as adjoining mining zones, Dawn reported.
An order issued by the deputy commissioner’s office said that certain individuals, groups and local residents had parked excavators at their homes near mining sites, making the machinery readily available for unauthorised gold extraction.
Despite several operations by the district administration to clear areas of illegal mining, excavators continue to be kept in residential neighbourhoods, the order said. Their presence, it added, facilitated and encouraged unlawful mining, posing a serious threat to public order and the interests of the state.
The administration said it had been compelled to impose stricter measures to prevent the misuse of excavators, which had become a key tool in the unauthorised extraction of placer gold.
In a separate order, the district administration also prohibited the sale, purchase and supply of petroleum products in open containers or bottles for use in unauthorised gold-mining activities in the district.
The attack comes amid renewed militant activity in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the former tribal districts. According to the Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies, the country’s security environment remained volatile between 30 October and 5 November, with an increase in terrorist activity in parts of the province alongside intensified counter-terrorism operations and shifting patterns of militant violence.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has also been under Governor’s Rule and a state of emergency since October 11, when the federal government imposed the measures after President Asif Ali Zardari approved a Cabinet decision to that effect. The government cited what it described as the PTI-led provincial administration’s “deliberate disengagement” from the fight against militancy.
Pakistan has experienced a resurgence of militant violence in recent years, much of it attributed to the TTP. The group is distinct from, but closely allied with, the Afghan Taliban, which returned to power in neighbouring Afghanistan in 2021.
Islamabad has repeatedly accused the Afghan Taliban government of providing sanctuary to TTP fighters operating across the border. Kabul has denied the allegations.
The escalating attacks have further strained relations between the two neighbours. Since last year, Pakistan has carried out strikes against what it says are TTP hideouts inside Afghanistan and in areas along the border.
This also comes two months after a 20-hour standoff between Pakistani forces and armed militants following a suicide bombing and gunbattle at a mosque inside a police compound in Kohat region. At least 31 people, including 16 police personnel were killed, and more than 100 injured. The attack took place as worshippers gathered for prayers at a mosque inside the Old Police Lines complex in Kohat. An explosives-laden vehicle was rammed into the entrance of the police compound.
(Edited by Nardeep Singh Dahiya)
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