Peshawar/Islamabad, February 26 At least 20 security personnel were killed in various terrorist attacks in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan, during the first week of the holy month of Ramadan. In addition, 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 near Bhakkar, adjacent to Dera Ismail Khan, and four army personnel were killed in Bannu in a suicide attack on a convoy of security forces.
In a separate incident, three personnel of the Frontier Corps paramilitary force were killed in the Bahadur Khel area of Karak, where militants attacked an ambulance. One police official was also killed in Dera Ismail Khan and Wana.
Police authorities confirmed that a female suicide bomber was arrested in Dera Ismail Khan, preventing a potential major attack.
In another incident, three brothers were abducted in Bannu late Wednesday night after Taraweeh prayers.
Two of the brothers, who were police officers, were killed, while their third sibling, a clerk in the commissioner's 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, Balochistan.
"Clearance operations are still ongoing 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 from Sindh province were kidnapped from Burkhan and Khuzdar areas while working on construction sites.
