DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan, Feb 11 (Reuters) – Militants killed five police officers in northwest Pakistan on Wednesday, police said, as the South Asian nation grapples with a rising wave of Islamist violence.
Police said they came under attack upon their return from an operation against militants on the outskirts of the city of Dera Ismail Khan.
The militants, who were hiding in a forest, opened fire on the police patrols, a police statement said. It said the police killed four of the militants in a retaliatory attack.
No one claimed responsibility for the attack.
The city sits on the edge of lawless Waziristan district along the Afghan border, which has long been home to Islamist militants, mainly local Taliban, also known as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan.
Militant violence has been on the rise since the TTP revoked a ceasefire with Islamabad in late 2022.
A suicide bombing killed over 30 people at a mosque in Islamabad on Friday.
(Reporting by Saud Mehsud in Dera Ismail Khan; Writing by Asif Shahzad, Editing by William Maclean)
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