After southern districts, police under attack in Mardan Range

PESHAWAR: After a series of assaults on the cops in southern districts, now the police in the Mardan range are under accelerated attack by the militants over the last few days.

The latest attack was carried out on a police patrolling car in Akora Khattak town where three cops were martyred. Before that cops had fallen victim to target killings in Mardan and Charsadda in the last few days.

Top police officers, including Inspector General of Police Moazzam Jah Ansari and Regional Police Officer Muhammad Ali Gandapur attended the funeral prayers of the fallen heroes at midnight to boost their morale and give them a sense of ownership.

The IGP was seen wearing a bullet-proof jacket to convey a message to the jawans and commanders across the province to make sure wearing the safety vest for protection of their precious lives. The lives of many cops could be saved in the past years had they worn bullet-proof jackets when they came under attack.

The cops in KP were already under attack in Lakki Marwat, South and North Waziristan and some other towns in the southern KP for the last many months. Many attacks were also carried out in Peshawar and adjacent Khyber district in the past months.

A source informed that 26 policemen, 12 personnel of other law-enforcement agencies and 17 civilians were martyred in terror-related incidents across the KP between August 15 and November 25. A total of 118 terrorist incidents were reported during the time.

Besides, 18 policemen, 10 civilians and 37 law enforcement agencies personnel were also wounded in these attacks. A source said that during the same period in 2021, 102 terror attacks were carried out in KP that resulted in martyrdom of four policemen each and civilians and 23 personnel of other LEAs.