On Thursday, October 10, the Pakistani police announced that radical militants in the country’s northwest fired at a police vehicle, killing 2 police officers before fleeing. This incident highlights the increasing violence in the lead up to the upcoming Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit next week.
Hours after the attack on the police, the military reported that they had killed 4 militants in the North Waziristan tribal district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, which borders Afghanistan.
Local police official Sher Afzal stated that the last attack on police occurred in Tank city in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
No organization has claimed responsibility for the attack yet, but the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) is a possible suspect, as they often target security forces in Pakistan.
The TTP is an outlawed organization in Pakistan. They are different from the Afghan Taliban controlling Afghanistan but are close allies of the Afghan Taliban.
In recent months, there has been a continuous rise in radical violent activities in Pakistan.
On Sunday, a suicide bomber from the banned separatist group Balochistan Liberation Army attacked a Chinese company convoy outside the Karachi airport, resulting in the deaths of two Chinese workers and injuries to several Pakistani nationals.
The SCO summit is scheduled to be held in Islamabad on October 15. Three security officials disclosed to Reuters that due to security threats against Chinese citizens by radical groups, authorities will restrict the activities of Chinese citizens during the summit.
The organization was established by China and Russia in 2001 to discuss security issues in Central Asia. Other members include Iran, India, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan.
Over the past four years, there have been a series of attacks targeting Chinese citizens in Pakistan. According to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, in August, there were multiple deadly attacks in Balochistan province resulting in over fifty deaths, aiming to disrupt development projects funded by China.
Islamabad has heightened security measures, deployed troops, closed schools, and shut down two restaurants along the road from the airport to the summit venue.
On the day before the police attack on Thursday, clashes occurred between the police in the northwest town of Jamrud and supporters of the banned organization Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM), resulting in at least three deaths. Authorities claim that PTM supports the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan.
The government has also banned PTM from holding gatherings in the northwest.
PTM denies supporting the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, and tensions escalated on Thursday following the organization’s insistence on defying the ban on their gatherings.
(This article referenced related reports from the Associated Press)