Two cops injured after terrorists attack Mianwali check post

• Police say 12 to 14 khawarij attacked check post. 
• Punjab Police thwart attack after which they escape. 
• DPO Mianwali, DSP Isa Khel reach site of incident. 

MIANWALI: At least two policemen sustained injuries after more than a dozen terrorists attacked Qabool Khel police check post in Punjab's Mianwali on Monday.

According to a police spokesperson, about 12 to 14 khawarij attacked the check post with rockets and hand grenades.

However, the Punjab Police thwarted attacked by the terrorists after which they escaped, said the spokesperson, adding that two cops were injured in the attack.

Following the incident, district police officer of Mianwali, Deputy Superintendent of Police Isa Khel reached the check post along with heavy personnel.

Last month, at least 12 policemen were martyred and six sustained injuries after bandits attacked their vans with rockets in a riverine area of Punjab's Rahim Yar Khan.

The horrific attack occurred in the Machka area located in one of Rahim Yar Khan's riverine areas.

Police officials told the media that two police vans with more than 20 cops were trapped in rainwater in the locality when bandits launched rockets at them.

As a result of the fierce attack, a dozen cops were martyred while seven others were wounded and five went missing, the police added.

Pakistan has witnessed a surge in militant attacks since the Taliban government returned to power in neighbouring Afghanistan in 2021, mostly in the northwestern border province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, but also in southwestern Balochistan, which abuts Afghanistan and Iran.

There were at least 170 militant attacks killing 151 civilians and 114 security personnel in Balochistan last year, according to the Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies.

Islamabad accuses Kabul's new rulers of failing to root out militants sheltering on Afghan soil as they prepare to stage assaults on Pakistan.

Against this backdrop, the federal cabinet in June this year approved Operation Azm-e-Istehkam, a reinvigorated national counter-terrorism campaign following the Central Apex Committee's recommendations under the National Action Plan to root out terrorism.