A LOCAL government official and five police officers have been killed in two attacks in Pakistan near its border with Afghanistan, officials said on Wednesday (3).
Tensions between the two countries remain high after weeks of escalating border clashes, despite a ceasefire agreed after violent fighting in October.
On Wednesday, three police officers were killed and two wounded in a blast in Paniala, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, a border region often targeted by militants.
Initial reports suggested the cause was an "improvised explosive device", said Ali Hamza, a police official in the nearby city of Dera Ismail Khan.
No one has claimed responsibility, but the Pakistani Taliban (TTP) has long carried out attacks in the province.
On Tuesday (2), gunmen killed local administrator Shah Wali and set his car ablaze in nearby Bannu city, local policeman Kamal Khan told AFP.
Two officers were also killed and three were wounded, Khan said.
A faction of the TTP claimed responsibility for the attack.
Islamabad accuses Afghanistan of failing to expel militants using its territory to launch attacks on Pakistan, a claim the Taliban authorities in Kabul deny.
The number of militant attacks in Pakistan rose last month compared to October, with civilian fatalities jumping by 80 per cent, according to a report by the Islamabad-based Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies.
The attacks included a rare suicide blast outside a courthouse in the capital Islamabad on November 11 that killed 12 people, claimed by a TTP faction.
More than 1,600 people were killed in militant attacks in Pakistan in 2024, the deadliest year in nearly a decade, according to the Islamabad-based Center for Research and Security Studies.
(AFP)
