4 policemen killed in northwest Pakistan attack

KARACHI, Pakistan

At least four policemen were killed and as many injured in an ambush on a police station in northwest Pakistan, the police and local media reported on Sunday.

The brazen attack, which is the latest in a slew of similar incidents in recent months, took place in the Lakki Marwat district of northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkwa province, abutting neighboring Afghanistan.

Heavily-armed suspected militants, a police spokesman said, attacked Burgai police station located in the southern outskirts of Lakki Marwat from two sides on late Saturday night.

The attackers, he said, used hand grenades and rocket launchers, killing four policemen on the spot, whereas another four were seriously injured.

A search operation is underway to arrest the "terrorists," he added.

Located 207 kilometers (128 miles) from the provincial capital Peshawar, Lakki Marwat has become a new hotbed of militancy with increasing terrorist attacks launched by outlawed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) on security forces in recent months.

Last month, six policemen were killed in a TTP-claimed ambush in Lakki Marwat.

The recent attacks are the aftermath of rescinding a fragile cease-fire between Pakistani security forces and the TTP, which could last only a few months. Both sides blame each other for the violation of the cease-fire.

Pakistan has seen a surge in terrorist attacks from the Afghan side of the border, following the Taliban's storming back to power in Kabul in August last year.

Islamabad has been urging the Taliban to live up to their commitments to rein in terrorist groups and not to allow them to use Afghan soil as a launch pad for attacks.

Noor Wali Mehsud, the TTP leader, nonetheless claimed that the militant network operates from within Pakistan and is not using Afghan soil.

In an interview with CNN on Saturday, Mehsud, from an unknown location, told the news channel that the militant network is targeting Pakistani security forces from "within its territory."