PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — Unidentified gunmen ambushed a vehicle carrying officials from the customs department in troubled northwest Pakistan on Thursday evening, killing four of them before fleeing the scene, police said.
No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack which happened in Dera Ismail Khan, a district in northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province bordering Afghanistan, local police official Nasir Khan said.
The motive behind the attack wasn’t immediately clear.
Khan said police transported the bodies of the slain officers to a hospital and officers were still investigating.
Pakistan has witnessed a surge in violence, mostly blamed on the Pakistani Taliban, who are known as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP. It’s a separate group but allied with the Afghan Taliban, which seized power in Afghanistan in August 2021.
Many TTP leaders and fighters have found sanctuary in Afghanistan since then and TTP often claims such attacks on security forces and other officials.
Indianapolis man charged with murder in fatal shootings of 3 at apartment complex
12 feared killed as boat capsizes in India
Tkachuk gets 2 goals, Batherson scores in the shootout, and Senators beat Canadiens 5
Mother in law of missing Kansas mom and friend arrested in huge Oklahoma SWAT raid
Justice Department ramps up efforts to reduce violent crime with gun intel center
Record storms in California lead to surging deadly fungal infections
Agyemang rallies Charlotte to 3
U.S. House Republicans fail to impeach homeland security secretary over border security
Former Wisconsin Democratic Rep. Peter Barca announces new bid for Congress
Visitors are seen on camera damaging rock formations at a Nevada recreation site
Workers at Mercedes factories near Tuscaloosa, Alabama, to vote in May on United Auto Workers union
Runway at Tokyo's Haneda Airport reopens after aircraft collision