Police in Punjab on Tuesday night fought off a group of heavily armed terrorists of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) who attacked a police station in Mianwali, just a day after a suicide bombing in Peshawar left over 100 people dead.
This is the first assault on a police station or checkpost outside Khyber-Pakhtunkwha and areas bordering the Pak-Afghan border since the resurgence of terrorism following the return to power of the Taliban in Afghanistan. Speaking with media, Mianwali District Police Officer (DPO) Muhammad Naveed said 15-20 heavily armed terrorists had attacked the Makarwal police station, triggering an hours-long gunfight that concluded only after law enforcers repulsed the attackers.
According to the DPO, some terrorists were injured in the clash, but they could not be apprehended because the attackers fled the scene along with their injured accomplices. A search operation has been launched in the area to locate and apprehend the attackers, he added. To a question, the DPO clarified that no police had been injured or martyred in the gunfight.
Following the attack, which started around 9 p.m. and continued for around 2 hours, police heightened security in nearby areas of Punjab, including Multan and Sargodha.
Lauding the police for successfully repulsing the attack, Punjab caretaker Chief Minister Mohsin Naqvi said “brave sons” had crushed the terrorists’ designs with courage. “These young policemen are heroes, the nation is proud of their brave sons,” he added.
Similarly, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif lauded the Punjab police’s actions and announced that awards would be given to the cops involved in repulsing the attack. He vowed that police and counter-terrorism departments would be well-equipped to counter future terrorist threats.