Two Pakistani policemen killed in attacks on census teams

No declare of accountability for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province assaults which befell as nation carries out its seventh census.

Pakistan has skilled a current rise in assaults [File: Akhtar Soomro/Reuters]

Islamabad, Pakistan – Two policemen accompanying inhabitants census groups have been killed in separate assaults in Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

In one of many incidents, a gaggle of attackers on Monday ambushed a police car carrying 9 males, Waqar Ahmed, the district police official of Tank district, advised Al Jazeera.

“There have been 10 to 12 attackers who had been hiding in a water channel, from which they began firing on our cell. The police retaliated however one constable, Khan Nawab, died within the alternate of fireplace,” Ahmed mentioned.

4 different law enforcement officials had been wounded within the assault, together with two who suffered critical accidents and had been transferred to the provincial capital of Peshawar for therapy.

In a press release on Monday night, the Pakistani army’s media wing mentioned safety forces chased after the attackers and killed a “terrorist commander” it recognized as “Abdul Rasheed alias Rasheedi”. It added he was wished by police for involvement “in quite a few terrorist actions” towards the safety forces in addition to the killing of civilians, with out elaborating.

The opposite assault befell on Monday afternoon in Lakki Marwat district, about 86km (52 miles) north of Tank.

It was carried out “by two hooded males who rode a bicycle and opened hearth on the census crew, which resulted in demise of constable Dil Jan”, Lakki Marwat police spokesperson Shahid Hameed advised Al Jazeera.

The attackers managed to flee after killing the official, Hameed mentioned.

There was no declare of accountability for both assault.

Pakistan on March 1 kicked off its seventh census, a data-gathering train that's anticipated to final till April 1.

The nation has not too long ago seen a rise in assaults on its safety forces by the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), an armed group often known as the Pakistani Taliban, after it unilaterally ended a ceasefire settlement with the federal government in November final 12 months.

Amongst its many calls for, the TTP seeks stricter enforcement of Islamic legal guidelines, the discharge of its members from authorities custody, and a discount in Pakistani army presence in components of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, a province bordering Afghanistan.

It additionally seeks to reverse the 2018 merger of Pakistan’s tribal districts with neighbouring Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.