HANGU: At least three policemen, including a senior officer, were killed on Friday as twin blasts hit Hangu district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, police said.
Police identified the officer as SP Operations Asad Zubair and said at least three policemen were injured when the blast targeted his vehicle.
District Police Officer Khanzeb Mohmand confirmed the fatalities and said the wounded had been shifted to DHQ Hospital Hangu.
This was the second of two successive explosions which occurred close together.
The first blast occurred beside a police checkpoint in Ghulmina and caused no casualties, though a room near the checkpoint was destroyed.
The second explosion, about two kilometres away in Darband, targeted the police team that had gone to inspect the earlier site; SP Asad Zubair and three personnel were martyred in this attack.
The injured were shifted to DHQ Hospital Hangu. A bomb disposal squad and police commandos have launched a search operation in the area.
Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi condemned the attack on the police vehicle in Hangu and paid tribute to SP Operations Asad Zubair and two police personnel who embraced martyrdom.
He expressed heartfelt condolences and sympathy to the bereaved families.
He said the sacrifice of SP Asad Zubair and the two policemen would not go in vain, adding that SP Zubair and the personnel had attained the highest rank of martyrdom.
The country has witnessed a surge in cross-border terror incidents since Taliban rulers returned to Afghanistan in 2021, particularly in the bordering provinces of KP and Balochistan.
The two provinces which share a porous border with neighbouring Afghanistan faced the brunt of the terrorism incidents in Pakistan, accounting for more than 96% of the total violence across the country.
In August, the incidents in the country surged by 74% compared to July, according to a report by the Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies (PICSS). The Islamabad-based think tank recorded 194 fatalities from militant attacks during the month.
