10 cops killed in Pakistan militant attack

At least 10 police personnel were killed and six others injured after dozens of militants attacked a police station in northern Pakistan early Monday (February 5), a senior commander said.

The assault comes just days before Pakistan votes in a general election that has already seen dozens of attacks on candidates and party supporters.

“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 said.

He said 10 officers were killed and six wounded in the attack on Chaudhwan police station in Dera Ismail Khan district.

The border regions of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa have for years seen Pakistan Taliban, Islamic State and other groups attacking government and security targets, as well as targeting civilians.

The attackers briefly seized control of the police station during the assault in the early hours of Monday, Gandapur said.

At least 24 militants were killed last week when ethnic Baloch separatists launched raids on a compound of government facilities in a remote part of Pakistan’s southwest, the military said.

Four security personnel and two civilians were killed during the attack and subsequent search operations.

The Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), a banned Baloch separatist group, claimed responsibility for that attack in a statement on social media.

(With inputs from agencies)