Ten cops were martyred while six were injured in a late-night attack on the Chodwan police station in Dera Ismail Khan on Monday, police said.
The attack comes three days before the general elections are scheduled to take place on February 8 (Thursday).
Regional Police Officer (RPO) Nasir Mehmood confirmed the casualties to Dawn.com.
“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.
Gandapur told AFP the attackers briefly seized control of the police station during the assault in the early hours of Monday.
Malik Aneesul Hassan, the deputy superintendent of police in Draban, told Reuters that after entering the building, the militants “used hand grenades which caused more casualties to the police”.
Security concerns in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan have risen as both provinces have witnessed multiple attacks over the past few days.
The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) and the security apparatus had reviewed the law and order situation last week, stating that polls would be held at their scheduled time.
Caretaker Prime Minister Anwarul Haq Kakar strongly condemned the terrorist attack and offered his condolences to the families of the deceased.
He directed the concerned officials to provide the best possible medical treatment to the injured.
“The cowardly acts of terrorists will, as always, fail to undermine our resolve to maintain law and order,” he said. “The entire nation stands with the police and security forces and salutes the martyrs,” he said.
Caretaker KP Chief Minister Justice (rtd) Arshad Hussain Shah condemned the attack and expressed his grief over the loss of lives.
In a statement, he conveyed his sympathies to the families of the martyrs and prayed for the speedy recovery of the injured.
CM Shah said KP police had rendered “eternal sacrifices” for peace in the province and that “such cowardly attacks would not demoralise them”.
He asserted that the government would help the bereaved in “every way possible”.
Former prime minister Shehbaz Sharif expressed his condolences over the attack and said that such attacks would only strengthen the KP police’s “determination to achieve peace”.
Condemning the incident, ex-president Asif Ali Zardari said that implementation of the National Action Plan was the only way to eliminate terrorism.
“Peace will be achieved by destroying the nurseries of terrorists,” he said in a statement posted on X.
