Officers killed in suspected militant attack on police vehicle in northwest Pakistan

DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan (AP) — Suspected militants riding motorcycles opened fire Monday on a vehicle carrying traffic police in the restive northwestern Pakistan, killing three officers and wounding three other people before fleeing the scene, police said.

The attack occurred in Wazirabad Bazaar in Tank district, which is part of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, local police official Jamshed Khan said.

No group immediately claimed responsibility.

However, suspicion is likely to fall on the Pakistani Taliban, known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan. The group is separate from but allied with Afghanistan’s Taliban, which returned to power in 2021.

The attack came two days after gunmen fired on an ambulance responding to a suicide bombing at a roadside police checkpoint in Dera Ismail Khan district. The bombing killed 12 people and wounded about 35 others. The TTP claimed responsibility for the checkpoint attack.

Pakistan’s government has repeatedly accused Afghanistan’s Taliban of allowing TTP militants to operate from Afghan territory and has demanded that Kabul prevent cross-border attacks. Afghan authorities deny allowing their territory to be used to attack other countries.