Six people, four frontier constabulary and two private security company personnel, were martyred on Tuesday after terrorists stormed an energy plant in the Hangu district in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) near the Afghan border.
According to Deputy Superintendent Police (DSP) Irfan Khan, the attack took place early in the morning, adding that the martyred personnel fought bravely with the terrorists for more than two hours.
“The attack by up to 50 terrorists took place at a plant run by the MOL Pakistan Oil and Gas Company,” said Irfan.
The DSP added that a heavy contingent of police and Frontier Corps (FC) reached the area and initiated a search operation.
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No group has claimed responsibility and the company did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment from Reuters.
The attack comes months after two policemen and a Rangers man were among four people martyred, while 16 others sustained injuries, when terrorists, wearing suicide vests and carrying automatic weapons and grenades stormed the Karachi Police Office (KPO).
A gun battle raged for more than three hours following the assault after dusk, as security forces went floor-to-floor through the building in pursuit of the assailants. The forces retook the building after killing the three militants, a government spokesperson said.
The attack, claimed by the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), came just weeks after a bomb blast at a police mosque in Peshawar killed over 100 people, mostly policemen.
WITH INPUT FROM REUTERS
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