PESHAWAR: Attacks on the police force in southern districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa have further increased during the first two weeks of the current year, with the bombing of an armoured personnel carrier in Tank being the latest incident, claiming seven lives.
Police have come under intensified attacks in the districts of the Dera Ismail Khan and Bannu divisions, resulting in multiple casualties and injuries. Such attacks on police and other security personnel have been reported frequently since mid-2021.
In recent weeks, police personnel have been targeted in improvised explosive device (IED) attacks on APCs, as well as through targeted killings, ambushes, and other forms of attacks across several districts.
Inspector General of Police Zulfiqar Hameed told The News that measures have been taken to protect police buildings and offices after which the terrorists were looking for soft targets, including the cops returning home or visiting any other place after duty.
He said a detailed meeting was held over the issue with regional police officers and more steps were being taken to thwart such attacks. As per the official statistics, over 500 policemen have lost lives in ambushes, target killing, IED blasts and other attacks since 2023.
As many as 159 policemen were martyred in 2025. The number is slightly high compared to the corresponding year as 153 cops were martyred in 2024. As many as 186 policemen were martyred in 2023.
The police force was attacked 536 times during 2025. The number of attacks was 48 percent more compared to the incidents in 2024. Besides, 324 attacks were thwarted during last year, which was an increase of 83 percent compared to 2024.
Despite attacks, the force in most of the places is still short of protected buildings, bulletproof vehicles and jackets, latest weapons and technology to protect its cops.
An official said a number of bulletproof vehicles have been provided to the districts while many police stations and posts have been strengthened in recent months.
Also, technology including drones, anti-drone guns, thermal imaging scopes and other gadgets have been provided to the force to counter attacks and go after terrorists.
The attacks on police in KP surged since mid-2021 but the number of casualties went high in 2023. Over 86 policemen were martyred in one incident when a suicide bomber detonated explosives around his vest at the central mosque of the Malik Saad Shaheed Police Lines, the headquarters of the Peshawar Police, in January 2023. More than 200 policemen were wounded in the incident considered to be the biggest attack on police in Pakistan.
The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Police have lost over 2000 policemen from the rank of constable to additional inspector general after 2006.The total number of fallen heroes of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa were 369 from 1970 till 2006. Most of the cops martyred in the last couple of years were in Peshawar, Dera Ismail Khan, Bannu and Lakki Marwat districts. The overall worst year for the KP Police was 2009 when 207 policemen, including one SP, three DSPs, four inspectors, 18 sub-inspectors and 16 ASIs were martyred in different terrorist attacks all over the province. This also does not include the number of attacks in districts which were part of erstwhile Fata.
