10 officers killed in militant attack on Pakistan police station ahead of elections

At least 10 police officers have been killed and several others injured as dozens of militants attacked a police station in northwest Pakistan early Monday, says a senior commander, amid escalating violence ahead of elections.

The pre-dawn attack took place at Chaudhwan police station in Pakistan's Draban region in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province.

“More than 30 terrorists launched an attack from three directions. There was an exchange of fire for over two and a half hours,” Khyber Pakhtunkhwa police chief Akhtar Hayat Gandapur told AFP.

He added that during the attack the militants briefly seized control of the police station.

“After entering the building, the terrorists used hand grenades which caused more casualties to the police,” said Malik Anees ul Hassan, deputy superintendent of police in Draban.

It was not immediately clear who was behind the attack and whether it was related to the elections.

The attack was the latest in a string of violence that comes as Pakistan is set to hold a general elections later this week.

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Pakistan says security forces prevented three “coordinated” attacks launched by terrorists in a town some 70 kilometers from the provincial capital of southwestern Balochistan.

Polls in Pakistan are often marred by violence, with candidates and rallies targeted by militant groups as well as personal vendettas. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan provinces have become a hotbed of militancy.

At least two candidates have been shot dead since January in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, including Rehan Zeb Khan, a PTI-affiliated independent who was shot dead on Wednesday after leaving a stump gathering in the former tribal district of Bajaur.

Fifteen political figures in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa have faced death threats from militants over the past two months, a senior officer from the Counter Terrorism Department said.

In the past few days, a dozen separate attacks have been reported across Balochistan, at least five of which targeted candidates from different political parties.

On Tuesday, at least four people were killed by a bomb blast near a Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) rally in the provincial capital Quetta.

Last week, when ethnic Baloch separatists launched raids on a compound of government facilities in a remote part of Pakistan’s southwest at least 24 militants were killed, according to the military.

Four security personnel and two civilians were also killed during the attack and subsequent search operations.

In a statement on social media, the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), a banned Baloch separatist group, claimed responsibility for that attack.

Tariq Jawad, a police official in Quetta, said on Thursday that the entire province is under threat.

“Security is currently on high alert, all our teams are carrying out extra patrols, snap-checks are also being done, everyone knows that there is a threat in the entire province,” Jawad said.

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Iran’s foreign minister says Tehran and Islamabad will never allow terrorists to endanger the two countries’ security and ties.

Gohar Ijaz, the caretaker interior minister, said on Thursday that Pakistan’s elections will go ahead as planned on February 8.

Ijaz said a spate of attacks in the southwestern Balochistan province, where Islamabad has fought a decades-long insurgency, posed “no security threat.”

Pakistan has seen a resurgence of attacks by militants, especially those targeting security personnel, since 2022, when a ceasefire between the Pakistani Taliban and the government broke down.

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