By Staff Reporter
PESHAWAR: Four police officers were martyred in two separate ambushes by unidentified gunmen in the restive province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Sunday, officials said, adding to a grim toll of attacks on law enforcement amid a surge in militant violence that has plagued Pakistan’s border regions since the Taliban regained control in neighboring Afghanistan.
The deadliest of the assaults occurred in Sarai Naurang, in Lakki Marwat district, where assailants on a motorcycle opened fire on traffic police officers, killing three of them, according to a police spokesperson. The victims were identified as Jalal Khan, the officer in charge of traffic policing in Naurang; Constable Azizullah; and Constable Abdullah.
The attackers fled the scene, prompting police to initiate a search operation in the surrounding area while investigators worked to piece together the circumstances of the shooting. The bodies of the slain officers were taken to the Tehsil Headquarters Hospital in Sarai Naurang for autopsies and other formalities.
In a separate incident in the Mandan area of Bannu district, Constable Rashid Khan was gunned down as he travelled from his home to report for duty at the Mandan Police Station. “The martyred constable, Rashid Khan, was leaving his home for work on Sunday morning when armed assailants, who were on a motorcycle, shot him,” the police spokesperson said.
A heavy police presence quickly descended on the site, sealing off the area to gather evidence. “Following the incident, a large contingent of police reached the scene, cordoned off the area, and collected evidence,” the spokesperson said. “A search operation was also launched to arrest the attackers,” he added.
The killings come against a backdrop of escalating terrorist threats targeting security forces in Pakistan, particularly in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan, the provinces abutting Afghanistan. Militant activity has intensified since the Afghan Taliban seized power in Kabul in 2021, with groups like the Pakistani Taliban exploiting cross-border sanctuaries to stage attacks.
Just weeks earlier, on Dec. 23, five police officers were killed when militants ambushed their van in Karak district, also in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. In another similar episode on Dec. 3 of last year, three officers, including an assistant sub-inspector, died in a gun attack on their vehicle in the Panyala area of Dera Ismail Khan district.
The violence has exacted a heavy human cost. According to an annual security report from the Centre for Research and Security Studies, a think tank in Islamabad, at least 2,331 people — including civilians and members of law enforcement — were killed in terrorist attacks in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa alone in 2025, making it the hardest-hit province in the country.
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