Pakistani officials said that four policemen were killed on Thursday (30) by a roadside bomb as they scrambled to protect a police station under siege by Taliban militants in northwest Pakistan.
The latest incident is part of a larger trend of rising attacks by the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) since the Taliban regained control of Afghanistan in 2021.
According to reports, TTP fighters launched a heavy-weapons assault early Thursday on a police station in Lakki Marwat district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, which abuts the border with Afghanistan.
Four officers, including a deputy superintendent, were killed by a bomb as they rushed towards the fight in a "planned act of terrorism", said senior local police official Muhammad Ashfaq.
Deputy superintendent Iqbal Mohmand was known as an "exceptional poet", Ashfaq said. "He was always the centre of attention during poetic festivals," he said.
The TTP claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement on Thursday and accused Mohmand of "brutally" killing its fighters. It said there were no TTP casualties.
The TTP is a separate movement from the Afghan Taliban, however they share a common lineage and ideology.
Senior local administration official Tariqullah, who goes by one name, said the bomb pierced the armoured personnel carrier that was carrying the officers around 3 kilometres (2 miles) from the police station.
Five officers at the station, as well as the driver of the personnel carrier, were wounded, Tariqullah said.
Prime minister Shehbaz Sharif said on Twitter the attack "has left my heart heavy with sorrow".
"Our police officers and soldiers have made unforgettable sacrifices in the war against terrorism," he said.
The TTP have long targeted law enforcement officials, who they accuse of conducting extrajudicial executions.
The TTP was founded in 2007, when Pakistani militants fighting alongside the Taliban in Afghanistan splintered off to focus attacks on Islamabad as payback for supporting the US invasion after the 9/11 attacks.
They controlled swaths of northwest Pakistan at the height of their power but were largely routed by the military after a 2014 school raid that killed nearly 150 people, mostly pupils.
Attacks have been steadily rising since the Afghan Taliban's return in Kabul, and Islamabad says the TTP are launching assaults from Afghan soil.
A shaky six-month ceasefire between the TTP and Islamabad failed in November.
In January, more than 80 officers were killed when a suicide bomber blew himself up in a mosque inside a police compound in the northwestern city of Peshawar.
(AFP)
Moglai Bap and Mo Chara of Kneecap perform at Glastonbury Festival at Worthy Farm in Pilton, Somerset, Britain, June 28, 2025. REUTERS/Jaimi Joy
Police may probe anti-Israel comments at Glastonbury
BRITISH police said they were considering whether to launch an investigation after performers at Glastonbury Festival made anti-Israel comments during their shows.
"We are aware of the comments made by acts on the West Holts Stage at Glastonbury Festival this afternoon," Avon and Somerset Police, in western England, said on X late on Saturday (28).
Irish hip-hop group Kneecap and punk duo Bob Vylan made anti-Israeli chants in separate shows on the West Holts stage on Saturday. One of the members of Bob Vylan chanted "Death, death, to the IDF" in a reference to the Israel Defense Forces.
"Video evidence will be assessed by officers to determine whether any offences may have been committed that would require a criminal investigation," the police statement said.
The Israeli Embassy in Britain said it was "deeply disturbed by the inflammatory and hateful rhetoric expressed on stage at the Glastonbury Festival".
Prime minister Keir Starmer said earlier this month it was "not appropriate" for Kneecap to appear at Glastonbury.
The band's frontman Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh was charged with a terrorism offence last month for allegedly displaying a flag in support of Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah at a concert in November. He has denied the charge.
A British government minister said it was appalling that the anti-Israel chants had been made at Glastonbury, and that the festival's organisers and the BBC broadcaster - which is showing the event - had questions to answer.
Health secretary Wes Streeting said he was also appalled by violence committed by Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank.
"I'd also say to the Israeli Embassy, get your own house in order in terms of the conduct of your own citizens and the settlers in the West Bank," Streeting told Sky News.
"I wish they'd take the violence of their own citizens towards Palestinians more seriously," he said.
(Reuters)