Share

At least 10 killed in attack on police station in Pakistan 

accreditation
0:00
play article
Subscribers can listen to this article
Pakistani police personnel stand outside the entrance of a jail on 30 January 2024.
Pakistani police personnel stand outside the entrance of a jail on 30 January 2024.
Aamir Qureshi/AFP
  • Around 10 police personnel were killed in the early hours of Monday when militants stormed a police station in Pakistan. 
  • Six others were injured in the pre-dawn attack. 
  • According to police militants attacked the police station with sniper fire at around 03:00 and used hand grenades once they had entered the building. 


At least 10 police personnel were killed and six others injured in a pre-dawn attack on Monday by militants on a police station in northwest Pakistan, police said, as violence escalated ahead of general elections this week.

At around 03:00 local time militants attacked the police station with sniper fire and then entered the building, said police officers in Pakistan's Draban region in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province.

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

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

READ | Pakistan ex-PM Imran Khan, wife get 7 years for unlawful marriage

A national assembly candidate was shot dead on Wednesday elsewhere in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. On the same day, another political leader was shot dead in his party's election office in Balochistan province.

On Tuesday, a bomb attack following an election rally killed four people in Balochistan. Islamic State claimed responsibility.

Draban lies in an area considered a stronghold of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam party. The conservative religious party's leader, Maulana Fazal Ur Rehman, travelled last month to Afghanistan to meet the Taliban's supreme spiritual leader, local media reported, one of his few known meetings with foreign dignitaries.

The party has also called for a delay in Pakistan's polls due to security concerns.

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

We live in a world where facts and fiction get blurred
Who we choose to trust can have a profound impact on our lives. Join thousands of devoted South Africans who look to News24 to bring them news they can trust every day. As we celebrate 25 years, become a News24 subscriber as we strive to keep you informed, inspired and empowered.
Join News24 today
heading
description
username
Show Comments ()
Voting Booth
Should the Proteas pick Faf du Plessis for the T20 World Cup in West Indies and the United States in June?
Please select an option Oops! Something went wrong, please try again later.
Results
Yes! Faf still has a lot to give ...
68% - 2381 votes
No! It's time to move on ...
32% - 1130 votes
Vote
Rand - Dollar
18.49
+0.4%
Rand - Pound
23.19
+0.1%
Rand - Euro
19.90
+0.2%
Rand - Aus dollar
12.23
-0.1%
Rand - Yen
0.12
+0.0%
Platinum
966.10
0.0%
Palladium
950.00
0.0%
Gold
0.00
0.0%
Silver
0.00
0.0%
Brent Crude
82.96
-0.9%
Top 40
70,300
+0.5%
All Share
76,428
+0.5%
Resource 10
60,246
-0.2%
Industrial 25
107,200
+1.3%
Financial 15
16,554
-0.2%
All JSE data delayed by at least 15 minutes Iress logo
Editorial feedback and complaints

Contact the public editor with feedback for our journalists, complaints, queries or suggestions about articles on News24.

LEARN MORE