Ahead Of The Election, 10 People Died As A Result Of The Militant Group's Attack On Police Posts In Pakistan

Pakistani police illustration. (Wikimedia Commons/Urduvoa)

JAKARTA - At least 10 police personnel were killed and six others injured in an attack by dawn by militant groups against a police station in northwest Pakistan on Monday, police said, as violence escalated ahead of elections held this week.

The attack began with militant groups at 03.00 a.m. local time, starting with sniper fire, before they entered the building, police said in the Draban area, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Province.

"After entering the building, the terrorists used hand grenades that caused more casualties on the police side," said Malik Aneses ul Hassan, deputy police inspector in Draban.

It is not clear who or what group was behind the attack, as well as whether the attack was related to the elections to be held this week.

Last week, a candidate for a national council member was shot dead on Wednesday elsewhere in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. On the same day, another political leader was shot dead at his party's election office in Blochistan Province.

The previous Tuesday, a bomb attack after an election rally killed four people in Blochistan. The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the attack.

Draban is located in an area considered the Ulema-e-Islam Jamiat Party. The leader of the conservative religious party, Maulana Fazal Ur Rehman, last month traveled to Afghanistan to meet the Taliban's supreme spiritual leader, reports local media.

The party also called for a postponement of elections in Pakistan due to security concerns.

Pakistan has witnessed a resurgence of attacks carried out by religious-based militants, especially those targeting security personnel, since 2022, when a ceasefire between the Pakistani Taliban and the government collapsed.