PESHAWAR: According to a police report on Monday, a staggering 120 members of the force have been killed and 333 others injured in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in the last four months due to 77 militant attacks targeting law enforcement personnel.
Bannu suffered the most attacks with 24, followed by Dera Ismail Khan with 23 and Peshawar with 15.
The highest number of fatalities occurred in Peshawar, where 88 police officers were killed in action. Additionally, 12 officers were killed in Malakand, 11 in Bannu, and three in Dera Ismail Khan during this period.
The Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) is the largest and deadliest militant umbrella organisation active in Pakistan.
Formed in 2007 under Baitullah Mehsud, who was angered by Pakistan’s cooperation with Washington in the war on terrorism, TTP is a subset of different outlawed groups who agreed to work together against Pakistan and support the Afghan Taliban, who were fighting US and NATO forces.
Islamabad has accused the organisation of operating from neighbouring Afghanistan, and says the group’s attacks in Pakistan increased after the Afghan Taliban took control of Kabul in August 2021.
Despite Pakistan’s demand for the Afghan Taliban to remove the TTP or limit their movements, the Afghan Taliban urged Pakistan to negotiate a peace deal with the TTP instead.
Pakistan’s leaders and security analysts believe the talks only made the insurgents more powerful. The negotiations failed in November 2022.
Earlier on Monday, Section 144 was enforced in Peshawar for three days due to security concerns. The order prohibits gatherings of five or more people during this period.
The deputy commissioner of Peshawar issued the notification, highlighting the critical nature of the security situation.
