PESHAWAR: At least nine personnel of the Khasadar force were killed in two separate attacks in Mohmand district of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas on Thursday, officials said.
Seven Khasadar personnel were killed when unidentified assailants opened fire at a security checkpost in Karapa area of Pandyali tehsil in Mohmand Agency.
The Jamatul Ahrar faction of banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) claimed responsibility for the attack, the group’s spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan said in a statement.
Assistant political agent Mohmand Agency Naveed Akbar said the militant targeted security officials late in the night while they were stationed at the Karapa checkpost. After killing seven Khasadar men, the militant managed to flee, he said.
In a separate attack, miscreants opened fire at two Khasadar personnel in Machni area of Mohmand Agency.
The incident occurred late in the night when the deceased personnel Taj Ali and Bilal were on duty at a solar tubewell in the area.
All casualties were shifted to district headquarters hospital Ghalanai in Mohmand Agency.
Akbar told media that a search and strike operation was carried out in the surrounding areas where the incidents took place.
Mohmand is one of Pakistan’s seven tribal agencies near the Afghan border where the military has been battling Al-Qaeda and Taliban-linked militants for over a decade.