PESHAWAR: After a surge in attacks on police and security forces, the increasing number of threatening calls and messages to government officials and politicians in different parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa further worries the people of the province.
Police and security forces are being targeted frequently in southern districts, Peshawar, Khyber, Bajaur and other parts of the province. A head constable of the Hashtnagri Police Station, Hamza, was martyred after he was allegedly kidnapped from his house in the limits of Matani Police Station on Tuesday. His funeral prayers were offered at the Malik Saad Shaheed Police Lines later in the day.
A number of policemen have lost their lives in Matani and Hassankhel areas of the provincial capital and adjacent Khyber in the last few months. Also, police stations and police posts have come under attack with grenades on several occasions.
On Monday, no casualties were reported in a roadside bomb blast in the Badaber area, while one person was wounded in a grenade blast in Regi. An explosive-laden car went off close to a security post in North Waziristan on Tuesday, while many militants were killed in Kurram during actions.
There are frequent attacks on police posts, stations, offices, vehicles, and houses of cops in many southern districts. Security forces are also coming under attack frequently. Also, police advised a number of political and religious personalities in different districts to take precautionary measures due to various kinds of threats.
Recently, the Peshawar High Court expressed its anger over the law and order situation in many parts of the province, which has a population of over 40 million. The chief justice of the PHC, Syed Attique Shah, during a hearing last month, particularly mentioned the southern districts of KP, saying there seems to be no one to improve the situation.
On Tuesday, Governor Faisal Karim Kundi also discussed the law and order situation in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa with Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi. The interior minister assured complete support to KP in measures for the restoration of peace.
Though attacks had started in mid-2021 and increased in 2023 till 2025, KP has been facing more violence since the start of the current year. Along with other incidents, a number of people, including politicians and government officials, including senior ones, have received threatening messages and calls from extortionists and other groups. Houses and hujra of many have come under attack with grenades recently.
Among many, the houses of MNAs and MPAs have also come under attack in Bajaur, Kurram, Peshawar and other southern districts with grenades and rockets in the last few months. Many politicians and senior officials have avoided visiting their hometowns due to the law and order situation there for the last few years.
The government is busy with political issues while police and other forces are struggling to improve the situation. The force in many areas were provided with the latest weapons, bullet-proof cars, jammers, anti-drone guns, surveillance drones, and thermal scopes. But this has yet to bring any improvement.
The law and order situation has taken an ugly turn in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa during the current year. Around 600 policemen have lost their lives in target killing, suicide attacks, bomb blasts, ambushes, encounters and other incidents in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa since 2023, after an alarming increase in attacks on the cops.
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.
A further increase in attacks on the police force in the southern districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has been witnessed during the current year.As many as over 90 policemen have embraced martyrdom in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa during the current year. Many have been kidnapped, houses and families of others attacked, causing anger among the entire force, especially in Bannu and DIK divisions.
Attacks on police and security forces have been reported frequently since mid-2021. These attacks have further intensified in the last few months in most of the districts of the two divisions, Bannu and Dera Ismail Khan, claiming several lives and causing injuries.
During the first three months of 2026, the police force was attacked 194 times, mostly in Bannu and Dera Ismail Khan divisions. Police officials said over 108 of these attacks were foiled. Attacks have further intensified during the months of April and May.
The attacks on police in KP had started recording a surge 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 has lost over 2000 policemen from the rank of constable to additional inspector general after 2006.
