As militants enjoyed an upper hand in the militancy-hit Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan, gunmen assaulted a police checkpost took all four policemen hostage and shifted them to an undisclosed location.
The incident took place in the Umar Raghzai, Sararogha tehsil, Upper South Waziristan where militants armed with small and heavy weapons, launched the assault on the checkpost.
The attack has once again raised concerns about the deteriorating security situation in the province where law enforcement agencies look helpless in front of militants.
Two days back, in Southern Waziristan and Dera Ismail Khan areas four policemen, and eight other people including the Wazir sub-division chairman of Banu were kidnapped by unknown people.
Although some of them were safely recovered the incident points towards a grim reality of Pakistan, where even security personnel are not safe from militants.
Regarding the incident in Saratoga tehsil, the police said that a search operation had been started in the area, and it is believed that these police officers had been kidnapped.
In another incident, the chairman of Banu Wazir Sub-division, Masta Khan, his guards and two government contractors were kidnapped by unknown men in Dera Ismail Khan.
The Dera Ismail Khan police and the abducted chairman’s cousin Shah Karam confirmed this incident.
He said the Masta Khan was the chairman of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Party and was in charge of Banu district. According to him, Masta was in DI Khan for a funeral and since then has not been contacted.
In addition to this, an explosion occurred in front of the Imam Bara in Kalachi Tehsil of Dera Ismail Khan, damaging the door of the Imam Bara and nearby houses.
The police have confirmed this incident and said that the explosion was done to spread fear among the people.
In a separate incident, a police check post was recently attacked in the Tank district. A police officer was injured in the firing of the militants and the attackers were chased away.
Due to this prevailing insecurity, the Aba Shaheed Khel Qaumi Jirga of Lakki Marwat district gave a stern warning to the government two days ago that if the abducted employees of the Kabalkhel project were not released in three days, they would start protests.
Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is witnessing the worst militancy in recent times. Militant attacks have aggravated especially after tension arose along the Durand line.
On January 9, militants abducted 17 special employees of the Pakistan Atomic Energy Project, including a driver in the Kabal Khel area.
The militants released eight persons but the rest are still with the kidnappers.
Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan has accepted the responsibility of kidnapping and in the videos published on social media, the abducted employees requested the government to accept the kidnappers’ demands and take steps to release them.