Assistant commissioner, police officers among four dead in militant attack in northwest Pakistan

At least four people, including a senior district administrator and two police officers, were killed on Tuesday when militants ambushed an official convoy in northwestern Pakistan, authorities said.

The attack took place in Bannu district, part of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, a region bordering Afghanistan that has experienced a resurgence of violent militancy.

Sajjad Khan, regional police officer for Bannu, told Nukta that gunmen opened fire on the vehicle of North Waziristan Assistant Commissioner Shah Wali near Haidri Mamandkhel on Miranshah Road. Wali, two police personnel, and a passerby were killed, he said. Two other police officers were wounded and taken to a hospital.

Police said the convoy was traveling from Miranshah, a town in the adjacent North Waziristan district, to Bannu when attackers struck from a distance and later set the official vehicle on fire. Officials said Wali had been en route to appear before the Peshawar High Court’s Bannu bench at the time.

Shafi Jan, the provincial special assistant for information, condemned the killings and called the incident an irreparable loss for both the province and the family of the slain official. He said Pakistan would not allow “hostile elements” to achieve their aims and vowed the attack would not weaken the country’s fight against terrorism.

Sohail Afridi, chief minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, sought a detailed report from the provincial police chief and described the ambush as “deeply tragic.” He said anti-state groups would not succeed in undermining the government’s resolve through “cowardly attacks.”

The militant alliance Ittehad-ul-Mujahideen Pakistan, or IMP, which includes factions linked to the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), claimed responsibility.

Bannu, located near Pakistan’s former federally administered tribal areas along the Afghan border, has long been vulnerable to militant activity.

Since the Taliban takeover of Kabul in 2021, Pakistan has reported a renewed surge in attacks targeting security personnel, government officials, and civilians, particularly in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Islamabad has repeatedly accused TTP militants of using Afghan territory to stage cross-border attacks — a claim the Taliban government denies.

Despite ongoing counterterrorism operations, armed groups continue to exploit the area’s rugged terrain and weak local governance structures.