The raid took place in Dera Ismail Khan, a city in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa district, bordering Afghanistan, and was not claimed by any of the radical groups operating in the region, which have already carried out attacks with more than a hundred victims in the last year.
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Survivors said the attackers detonated hand grenades outside a police station in the Chodwan area, but most of the victims were hit by sniper fire, who went into action when police officers opened fire to repel the initial offensive.
Dozens of militiamen took part in the attack, in which they also used rockets and guns, and which occurred at 3:30 in the morning. In addition to the ten police officers who died, the raid left six others injured.
Central government officials and regional authorities condemned the riot, but ruled out modifying the date of the parliamentary elections, scheduled for February 8, in which 336 seats in the National Assembly are at stake.
“The entire nation stands with the police and security forces and salutes the martyrs,” interim Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar said in a statement.
Dera Ismail Khan is located near the mountainous region of South Waziristan, a former stronghold of the Pakistani Taliban.
Growing track record
The attack joins other recent attacks, most against police or military posts, which have claimed more than 100 victims in the last year.
Two months ago, a suicide bomber detonated an explosives-laden vehicle outside a police station in the same district, killing 23 soldiers and wounding 32 others. Tehreek-e-Jihad Pakistan, a fledgling militant group, believed to be an offshoot of the local Taliban movement, took credit for the action. The response to that operation led to the death of some 27 insurgents at the hands of military and police forces.
Also in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, but in the city of Peshawar, the deadliest attack in recent times occurred, when a year ago an individual disguised as a police officer detonated explosives inside a mosque, killing 101 people, most of them police officers. and injuring 225, after the blasts caused the structure to collapse.
A week ago, violence hit Balochistan province, where radical elements killed six people, including four security personnel, in an attack claimed by the Balochistan Liberation Army, which later suffered the loss of 24 members.
Imminent elections
The violence has exacerbated on the eve of the February 8 electoral process, in which 44 parties are participating, competing for 266 seats in the Lower House of Parliament, and 70 additional seats reserved for women and minorities.
The dominant force will be able to form a government and appoint a prime minister to replace Kakar.
The big favorite in that election is Nawaz Sharif, prime minister on three occasions in the past, who returned to Pakistan in October, after an exile in London to avoid prison sentences for corruption and tax evasion.
Sharif was prosecuted after the appearance of his name and that of several relatives in the 'Panama Papers', the investigation that revealed a plot to create fictitious companies with accounts in tax havens, through the Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca.
Sharif was acquitted of past convictions and his political rights were restored, after former Prime Minister Imran Khan, now imprisoned, disqualified him from public office.
The loss of confidence in traditional politicians has provided fodder for the rise of radical Islamic clerics and groups, which question Western forms of government in Pakistan.
With AP and AFP
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