Targeted violence against police escalates as gunmen kill five personnel in Karak, deepening security concerns nationwide.
Islamabad
At least five police personnel were killed on Tuesday after gunmen targeted a police mobile in Karak district of Pakistan’s volatile northwest, local police confirmed. The deadly incident adds to a troubling pattern of attacks against law enforcement agencies, particularly in the country’s bordering provinces.
District Police Officer (DPO) Saud Khan said that unidentified assailants opened fire on a police vehicle that was part of a security detail assigned to a private gas company. The attackers fled the scene after the assault and subsequently set the vehicle ablaze, leaving it completely destroyed. Security forces cordoned off the area and launched a search operation, but no arrests had been reported at the time of filing this report.
The attack occurred in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, a province that has witnessed a sharp rise in militant activity in recent years. Officials acknowledged that police and security installations have increasingly become soft targets for armed groups operating in the region.
Earlier this month, on December 8, a policeman was injured when assailants targeted the Ahmadzai police station in Bannu district using sniper fire, according to a police officer quoted by local media. Just days before that, on December 3, three police personnel — including an assistant sub-inspector — were killed in an improvised explosive device (IED) blast that struck a police vehicle in the Paniyala area of Dera Ismail Khan. District police spokesperson Yaqoob Zulqarnain said the victims were ASI Gul Alam, Constable Rafiq, and the driver of the mobile van, Sakhi Jan, while another constable escaped unhurt.
The latest killing comes amid alarming statistics highlighted by the Islamabad-based Centre for Research and Security Studies (CRSS). In its most recent security assessment, the think tank reported a more than 46 per cent increase in overall violence across Pakistan during the third quarter of 2025.
