At least two policemen were killed on Friday when a convoy of local judges was attacked in northwestern Pakistan, a police official confirmed.
The country has been experiencing a surge in militant attacks, particularly in the volatile Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province bordering Afghanistan.
The banned militant group Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) has been responsible for numerous deadly attacks since an uneasy truce between them collapsed in November 2022. The group's leadership is reportedly based in neighboring Afghanistan, and it has targeted civilians and security forces with impunity since its inception in 2007. In response, the military has launched several operations to remove its fighters from the northwestern tribal region.
This is not the first time district judges have been targeted by militants in KP. In April, Judge Shakirullah Marwat was abducted by unidentified kidnappers near a village at the junction of Tank and Dera Ismail (DI) Khan districts but was rescued after a few days.
"Two policemen who were part of the judges’ security squad have been killed," District Police Officer Abdul Salam Khalid said on Friday. "The attack on the convoy occurred at the junction of Tank and DI Khan." The official added that two judges were traveling in separate cars from Dera Ismail Khan to South Waziristan when their convoy was ambushed by unidentified militants. He noted that more details would be shared once the investigation was complete.
Regional Police Officer Nasir Mehmood stated that the attack was not specifically aimed at the judges but was intended to target the police personnel. "Attacks on police and law enforcement agencies occur periodically in the region," he added.
KP Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur condemned the targeting of judges and police as a "sad and condemnable" act and instructed authorities to submit a detailed report on the incident.
The province has seen a significant increase in militant violence, with two policemen and a civilian killed this week in an attack on a police checkpoint in the Khyber district. Earlier in July, 10 soldiers and five civilians were killed in two separate attacks in the Bannu and Dera Ismail Khan districts of KP. In the first attack, a group of 10 militants attempted to enter the cantonment in Bannu on July 15, while in the second attack, militants fired on rural health center staff.
In February, 10 policemen were killed and six others injured in an attack on the Chodwan police station in Dera Ismail Khan, a district that remains one of the most dangerous parts of KP due to frequent militant attacks.
Pakistan has attributed the recent surge in militant violence to the Taliban administration in Afghanistan, accusing it of facilitating groups like the TTP. However, Kabul denies allowing its territory to be used by armed militants and maintains that Pakistan’s security issues are a domestic matter.
