The Pakistani Taliban have ambushed and killed all six people in a police vehicle in northwestern Pakistan, officials said.
Police officer Rab Nawaz Khan said on Wednesday that the morning attack in the Dadewala area of Lakki Marwat district came during a routine patrol in a suburban area.
The attackers launched an attack with automatic rifles around 7 am (0200 GMT) and escaped on motorcycles.
Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack.
The militants had been involved in previous attacks on security forces.
Mohammad Khurasani, who said he is a spokesperson for the Pakistani Taliban, formally known as Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan or TTP, said in a statement that the patrol was ambushed on the way to a raid and the attackers acquired five police weapons from the confrontation.
Khan said reinforcement has reached the scene, moved the bodies to a hospital and started an investigation to find the perpetrators.
READ MORE: Fear and despair grip Pakistan’s Swat as TTP foothold increases
TTP’s attacks in Pakistan
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif offered his condolences and said on Twitter, “terrorism continues to be one of Pakistan’s foremost problems”.
The TTP were at the height of their power in Pakistan between 2007 and 2009, when they held sway over the Swat valley just 135 km north of Islamabad.
They were pushed into Afghanistan by an army offensive after perpetrating a barbaric schoolhouse bombing that killed nearly 150 students in 2014.
Northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan borders Afghanistan and has seen militants largely known as Pakistani Taliban operate in the area for many years.
Analysts say the TTP have found a vital foothold and shelter there since the botched US withdrawal in August 2021.
Although the Taliban in Afghanistan have encouraged Islamabad and the TTP to reach a peace agreement through dialogue, talks amid a ceasefire between the two sides that started in May proved futile.
READ MORE: TTP militants extend truce with Pakistan amid Kabul peace talks
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