Attack on northwest Pakistan police post kills 11 officers

Fifteen attackers were also killed during the hours-long raid in Pakistan’s northwestern Hangu district.An ambush on a police checkpoint in Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province has killed at least 11 police officers and injured dozens, according to local authorities.The attack late on Wednesday took place in the Hangu district near the Afghan border. The attackers first used explosive-laden quadcopters to target the police post before ambushing it, according to a police statement.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemslist 1 of 3At least nine police officers killed in southwestern Pakistan attacklist 2 of 3Pakistan military says 42 killed in fighter attacks in Balochistanlist 3 of 3After Afghanistan fires drones into Pakistan, what’s next?end of listSecurity forces engaged in an hours-long gun battle with the attackers, killing 15 of them while sustaining heavy casualties, said local police.In addition to the 11 police officers killed, 28 were hospitalised with injuries.Among those killed was Deputy Superintendent Diyar Khan, who had led reinforcements to the scene, local police said.Attackers set three police cars alight and took another police vehicle, added district police officer Mujahid Hussain.No group has claimed responsibility for the latest attack, which came days after a deadly suicide bombing targeting Pakistani soldiers in the nearby district of Tank. The Pakistan-taliban" class="entity-link entity-organization" data-entity-id="1623" data-entity-type="organization">Pakistan Taliban, known by the acronym TTP, claimed responsibility for ⁠the suicide attack.Violence in Pakistan’s border areas has risen sharply in recent months, targeting mainly the military and police after an armed conflict between Pakistan and Afghanistan killed hundreds earlier this year.Al Jazeera’s Kamal Hyder, reporting from Islamabad, said there has been a spike in attacks targeting police and security forces along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border.Islamabad claims fighters use safe havens in Afghanistan to train and ‌plan attacks in Pakistan. Afghanistan’s Taliban government has denied the charge and said the unrest is Pakistan’s domestic problem.