Militants kill six officers and a civilian in ambushes on police vehicles in northwest Pakistan

Suspected militants carried out a series of attacks on police targets in Pakistan on Tuesday, leaving multiple officers and a civilian dead, officials said.

In Kohat district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, assailants ambushed a police vehicle, killing one officer. When reinforcements arrived shortly afterward, the attackers struck again, killing five more officers and a civilian, according to police official Kamran Khan.

In a separate incident, a suicide bomber detonated explosives at a police post in Bukkur district of Punjab province, killing two officers and injuring four others, police official Shahzad Rafiq said. He added that investigations were ongoing but provided no further details.

No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attacks, which come amid a recent rise in militant violence across the country. President Asif Ali Zardari condemned the incidents and expressed condolences to the victims’ families.

The violence follows an attack on a paramilitary post in Karak on Monday, where an explosives-laden drone wounded several officers. The attackers later ambushed two ambulances transporting the injured, killing three officers and burning their bodies before fleeing. Authorities said the driver of one ambulance managed to evacuate wounded personnel despite suffering burn injuries.

While no organization has claimed responsibility for this week’s attacks, suspicion is likely to fall on Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), a militant group that has intensified operations in recent months. Pakistan has repeatedly accused the TTP of operating from Afghan territory, an allegation denied by both the group and Kabul.

Earlier, Pakistan’s military said it had killed at least 70 militants in operations along the Afghan border, targeting hideouts of fighters blamed for recent attacks inside the country.