Seven police personnel of two police stations were allegedly abducted in two separate incidents on Sunday while patrolling in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s South Waziristan district, police said.
District Police Officer Upper South Waziristan, Arshad Khan, confirmed the incident and said efforts are underway to locate the policemen who went missing during routine patrolling.
“Seven police personnel were patrolling when unidentified individuals took them away,” he told Dawn.com.
He said three policemen — Insaf, Abid and Ismail — were on patrol in the limits of Ladha police station when they went missing.
In a separate but similar incident, four policemen went missing from Tanga Chagmalai in the limits of Sarwakai police station. They include sub inspector Abdul Khaliq, and constables Irfanullah, Habibullah and Imran.
The police officer said no information has been received about the missing policemen and a search operation is underway to locate them.
Pakistan has witnessed an uptick in terror activities over the past year, especially in KP and Balochistan, after the proscribed Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) ended its ceasefire with the government in November 2022.
This comes a day after nine terrorists were killed and three security officers injured in an exchange of fire during an operation in Hangu district.
KP Inspector General of Police (IGP) Zulfiqar Hameed said that security forces and police carried out a joint operation in Hangu’s Zargari Shinawari area.
“Nine terrorists killed in Hangu operation, District Police Officer (DPO) Khalid Khan is undergoing treatment at the Kohat Combined Military Hospital,” a statement issued by Kohat Regional Police Officer Deputy Inspector General Abbas Majeed read.
On June 24, two soldiers were martyred and 11 terrorists were killed during an intelligence-based operation (IBO) in South Waziristan district, the military’s media wing said.
According to a statement by the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), security forces conducted an IBO in Sararogha on the reported presence of “Khwarij belonging to Indian Proxy, Fitna-al-Khwarij.”
The statement said that the troops effectively engaged the terrorists’ location and “11 Indian sponsored khwarij” were killed and seven were injured. During the intense fire exchange, Major Syed Moiz Abbas Shah and Lance Naik Jibranullah “fought gallantly and paid the ultimate sacrifice,” it added.
Pakistan ranked second in the Global Terrorism Index 2025, with the number of deaths in terrorist attacks rising by 45 per cent over the past year to 1,081.
KP has seen an increasing trend of terrorism-related incidents. Faced with increasing attacks by militants, security forces have also intensified counterterrorism operations in KP and Balochistan.