At least 10 policemen were killed and six others injured as heavily armed terrorists attacked a police station in northwest Pakistan on Monday, ahead of the February 8 general elections in the country.
The incident took place at Chodwan police station in Daraban tehsil in Dera Ismail Khan district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, a senior police official in Dera Ismail Khan division said.
No outfit has yet claimed responsibility for the attack.
“We lost 10 of our jawans, while six others were injured in the ambush carried out by heavily armed terrorists,” district police officer Nasir Mehmood said.
The terrorists attacked the police station from all sides with grenades and heavy gunfire. The police also retaliated, but the terrorists managed to escape, police said.
The forces have cordoned off the area and launched a search operation, while the quick response force has reached with additional force, they said. The attack added to the security concerns surrounding the general elections in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan provinces which have been hit by poll violence and terror strikes in recent days.
Meanwhile, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa caretaker chief minister Arshad Hussain condemned the attack on the police station and expressed condolences to the family members of the victims.
The resolve of police against terrorism can not be deterred through such acts of cowardice, he said.
Ballot papers
With the election in Pakistan just days away, the delivery of 260 million ballot papers across 859 National Assembly and provincial assembly constituencies has started after taking into account some last-minute candidacy-related petitions, according to a spokesperson of the election commission.
The elections are taking place for 336 seats in the National Assembly along with four provincial assemblies.
About 18,000 candidates are in the race for the National Assembly and the four provincial assemblies in Punjab, Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan.
The printing of the ballot papers was completed at three government presses, with some papers necessitating reprinting following court decisions on candidacy-related petitions, The Express Tribune reported on Monday, quoting the spokesperson of the Election Commission of Pakistan.
This time around, 2,170 tonnes of paper was utilised for the printing process, a substantial increase from 2018. The increased number of ballot papers, totalling 260 million, reflects a 40 million increase from previous polls. “Despite limited time and challenges, the ECP fulfilled its responsibility, by completing the printing of ballot papers,” the spokesperson said.
