DSP, three policemen martyred in ambush.

LAKKI MARWAT -- A deputy superintendent of police (DSP), along with his three gunmen, was martyred in an attack targeting a police vehicle in Lakki Marwat in the early hours of Thursday.

According to details, militants stormed the Saddar police station on the Bannu-Mianwali road near Chawkijand area when personnel inside the station called for reinforcements.

DSP Iqbal Momand, who responded to the call, was on his way when the armoured vehicle he was travelling in was targeted with an improvised explosive device (IED).

The IED, planted earlier by the militants on the road leading to the police station, went off near the APC a few miles from the station.

The attack also left six people wounded.

The outlawed Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) has claimed responsibility for the attack.

A local police officer confirmed that along with DSP Momand, constables Waqar, Kiramat and Ali Marjan also embraced martyrdom. The vehicle's driver Sardar Ali, along with five other personnel sustained injuries in the exchange of fire with the militants who fled after the attack.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) police chief Akhtar Hayat said around 20 to 25 kilograms of explosives were used in the attack.

Intelligence-based operaAAtions were being carried out in Bannu and D.I. Khan divisions since attacks were increasingly taking place in the province's southern parts,' Mr Hayat informed media persons at the police's headquarters in Peshawar after the funeral prayers of the martyred DSP. The funeral prayers were attended by Caretaker Chief Minister Muhammad Azam Khan, Governor Ghulam Ali and the police chief.

The funeral prayers of the three martyred policemen were held at police lines Lakki Marwat. Bannu Regional Police Officer Syed Ashfaq Anwar, Brigadier Imran, Lakki Marwat Deputy Commissioner Abdul Hadi and other officials attended the prayers.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif condemned the attack on a police station in Lakki Marwat, which resulted in the martyrdom of three personnel, paying tribute to DSP...