20 Pak security personnel killed in first week of Ramazan

Peshawar/Islamabad, Feb 26 (PTI) At least 20 security personnel were killed in different terror attacks in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa during the first week of the holy month of Ramazan while security forces killed 18 rebels in two days in Balochistan, the army said on Thursday.

Between February 19 and 25, official data showed that in the restive Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, seven police officials were killed in Kohat; four were killed in an attack by a suicide bomber who targeted the Dajal police check post in the limits of Bhakkar, adjacent to Dera Ismail Khan, and four army personnel were killed in Bannu in a suicide attack on a security forces convoy.

In a separate incident, three paramilitary Frontier Corps personnel were killed in the Bahadur Khel area of Karak where the militants attacked an ambulance while one police official was killed in Dera Ismail Khan and in Wana both.

Police authorities confirmed that a female suicide bomber was arrested in Dera Ismail Khan, foiling a potential major attack.

In another incident, unidentified armed men abducted three brothers in Bannu late on Wednesday night after Taraweeh prayers.

Two of the brothers, who were policemen, were killed while their third sibling, a clerk in the commissioner office, was released on Thursday.

Security forces and police launched an investigation into the incident.

According to the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the military's media wing, eight militants were killed on Tuesday while another 10 were killed the next day in clearance operations in areas in Zhob in Balochistan.

“Clearance operations are still continuing in Zhob based on intelligence reports until the area is cleared of terrorists,” the ISPR said.

In Balochistan, the situation has been volatile since last Saturday when eight workers belonging to Sindh province were kidnapped from the Burkhan and Khuzdar areas while working on construction sites. PTI AYZ/SH/CORR NPK GSP