Six “highly wanted” militants were killed in an operation in the mountainous areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province following an attack on a police checkpoint, the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) of the police said on Wednesday.
The CTD said it launched an operation against “highly wanted” militants hiding in the mountainous areas of Lower Dir district after intelligence reports indicated their presence in the region. According to an official statement, the militants were responsible for killing a police constable in the recent attack on the Badwan Bridge Check Post in Tehsil Adenzai and were allegedly planning another attack.
“The terrorists opened indiscriminate fire on the police teams. In response, police returned fire in self-defense in an effort to apprehend the suspects,” the CTD said in a statement.
“The exchange of fire continued for a considerable period and after the firing ceased, a search operation was conducted during which six terrorists were found dead.”
The CTD said the suspected militants were wanted in multiple “terrorism-related” cases. It added that six Kalashnikov rifles, three hand grenades, and a large quantity of ammunition were recovered from their possession. An operation was underway to apprehend the suspected militants who escaped during the police operation, the CTD said.
Separately, eight police personnel, including a station house officer (SHO), were allegedly kidnapped by unidentified armed men in Upper South Waziristan on Wednesday, officials said.
District Police Officer (DPO) Arshad Khan confirmed the incident to the media, stating that those allegedly abducted included Sararogha SHO Ahmad Shah and two members of the Bomb Disposal Unit (BDU).
He said the abducted personnel had been deployed to the remote Partogai area of Sararogha tehsil to neutralise a suspected unexploded ordnance (UXO) – explosive weapons that did not explode when deployed but remain at risk for detonation.
According to police sources, the BDU successfully defused the UXO and completed all necessary procedures at the site.
After concluding the operation, the police team began its return journey to the police station. However, while travelling back, unidentified armed men intercepted the police vehicle, held the personnel hostage and took them to an undisclosed location.
Preliminary information suggests that the assailants had been lying in wait and launched the abduction after the police team completed its assignment and started heading back.
Following reports of the kidnapping, police launched a large-scale search operation across the area.