PESHAWAR: A group of heavily-armed militants from the Pakistani Taliban attacked a police station in the suburbs of the restive northwestern city of Peshawar on Saturday and killed three policemen, including a senior police officer, authorities said.
Some six to seven militants attacked Sarband police station bordering Khyber tribal district with hand grenades, automatic weapons and sniper shots and three policemen were killed in the cross-firing, SSP Operation Peshawar Kashif Abbasi said.
The Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) terror group has claimed responsibility for the attack.
The three slain policemen include the Deputy Superintendent of Police Sardar Hussain and two constables.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Police chief Moazzam Jah Ansari said the policemen successfully foiled the terrorist attack on the station and fought valiantly.
The DSP was injured in the firing while entering the building. He succumbed to his injuries in the hospital.
Chief Minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province Mehmud Khan condemned the incident and said sacrifices of the police in the war against terror will not go to waste.
A search operation to locate the attackers is underway. In a statement, Muhammad Khurassani Spokesman for TTP said their Mujahideen attacked two police posts in Peshawar last night with laser guns.
The TTP claimed killing four policemen, including a DSP rank police officer, and injuring three in the attack, along with seizing two Kalashnikovs, two magazines and Rs 47,000.
In another statement, its spokesman also claimed responsibility for the attack on a joint security checkpoint of police and CTD in tehsil Tunsa Sharif of Dera Ghazi Khan district Southern Punjab, killing two cops.
TTP, commonly known as the Pakistani Taliban, is an umbrella organisation of various Islamist armed militant groups operating along the Afghan"Pakistani border".
Formed in 2007, the group shares a common ideology with the Afghan Taliban and assisted them in the 2001-2021 war.