DSP among four martyred as TTP terrorists attack police in KP, Punjab.

PESHAWAR -- At least four policemen including an officer of the rank of Deputy Superintendent were martyred and several others wounded as terrorists attacked two police stations in the Punjab and Khyber Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces, officials said Saturday. In a statement issued on Saturday, the terrorist group, the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), claimed both the gun and bomb attacks. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif strongly condemned the terrorist attack on the policemen. He expressed grief and sorrow over the martyrdom of a Deputy Superintendent of police and two police personnel in the attack in KP. He said the sacrifices of police and law enforcement agencies were unforgettable. According to police sources, a police post came under attack in Punjab's Taunsa district late Friday night. A policeman was martyred and another one was critically injured in the attack.

Reportedly, there were around nine terrorists who attacked the police party. In Peshawar, militants shot dead three police officers on the outskirts of the city, authorities said, the latest violence in the restive northwestern region bordering Afghanistan. A Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) along with two of his gunmen was targeted by sniper fire as they rushed to counter the attack on a police station in Sarband, Peshawar, police said. A search operation was underway in the area till late Sunday. The sarband police station in the provincial capital was attacked by militants. Police said heavy firing and explosions have been reported from the vicinity as reinforcements were called. Senior superintendent of operations Kashif Aftab Abbasi told reporters that the three officers martyred as they chased militants who had earlier attacked a police station with hand grenades, sniper guns and automatic weapons in Sarband, near Peshawar.

Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah Khan said the central government was deeply concerned about deteriorating law and order in the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, where Peshawar is located. He criticised local authorities for failing to learn from previous assaults, including a militant takeover and hostage situation at a counter-terror department in Bannu district. 'Terrorists are attacking police stations, policemen and officers are being targeted,' said Khan. 'It seems that the provincial government has not learned any lesson even from Bannu CTD headquarters,' he said, referring to the counter-terror department that was seized by...