Suspected militants shoot police in vehicle in northwest Pakistan, killing 2 officers
UNB
Publish: 10 Oct 2024, 02:50 PM
PESHAWAR,
Pakistan, Oct 10 (AP/UNB) - Suspected militants riding on a motorcycle opened
fire on a vehicle carrying police officers Thursday in a former stronghold of
the Pakistani Taliban, killing two of them and wounding two others, police
said.
The attack happened in
Tank, a city in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province bordering Afghanistan, local police
official Sher Afzal said.
No group has claimed
responsibility, but suspicion is likely to fall on the Pakistani Taliban, known
as the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan or TTP, who often target security forces.
The TTP are outlawed in
Pakistan. They are separate from but a close ally of the Afghan Taliban who
control neighboring Afghanistan.
The latest violence came
a day after at least three people were killed in clashes in the northwestern
town of Jamrud between police and supporters of a banned right group Pashtun
Protection Movement or PTM, which authorities say supports TTP.
The government has also
barred PTM from holding rallies in the northwest, allegedly because the
demonstrations are against the interests of Pakistan. PTM denies backing the
Pakistani Taliban, and tension was growing Thursday after the group vowed to
resist the ban on their rallies.
END/UNB/AP/PR