ISLAMABAD: At least seven policemen were killed and 22 others injured when a group of militants attacked a police checkpoint in Hangu district of Pakistan's northern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, police have said.
District Police Officer Tariq Habib told local media late Wednesday that security personnel returned fire, killing eight militants and injuring six others, reports Xinhua news agency.
A clearance operation was continuing in the area to eliminate any remaining militants, police said.
No group has claimed responsibility for the attack.
This comes against the backdrop of similar attacks that have been carried out by the militants against security officials in Pakistan, leaving several personnel dead.
Earlier on July 23, at least 14 people, including security personnel, police officers and a forest department official, were killed in a suicide bombing targeting a security post in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
The attack took place at a security post in Tank district when a vehicle-borne suicide bomber detonated explosives, triggering a powerful blast that caused extensive casualties and damage, the sources told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.
The dead included nine soldiers, four police personnel and one official from the provincial forest department, the sources added.
At least 24 people, including 20 soldiers and four police personnel, were also injured in the explosion and shifted to nearby hospitals.
The post was razed to the ground following the explosion, and rescue teams continued search and evacuation operations at the site, with three soldiers believed to be trapped under the rubble, the sources said.
During subsequent clearance operations, security forces killed three militants in the surrounding area, the sources added.
Later, on July 25, the Inter-Services Public Relations, the media wing of the military, said that the forces have foiled an attack on a check post in the country's northwestern South Waziristan district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
They said that the attackers attempted to storm the check post using an explosives-laden vehicle, but security personnel destroyed the vehicle outside the post's perimeter, preventing any damage.
