LAHORE: A gun attack on a police station in Mianwali on Tuesday night was carried out by a group of heavily armed militants belonging to the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), a day after a deadly suicide bombing in Peshawar that killed over 100 people.
However, late at night, police reported that the attack had been stopped. The fact that terrorists, who had previously targeted checkpoints and police stations in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and areas bordering Afghanistan, have targeted a Punjab police station for the first time since the country’s resurgence of terrorism makes this attack significant.
پنجاب پولیس نے میانوالی میں تھانہ مکڑ وال پر دہشت گردوں کا حملہ ناکام بنادیا
حملہ آور دہشت گرد پولیس جوانوں کی جوابی فائرنگ سے پسپا ہوکر بھاگنے پر مجبور ہوگئے۔
ڈی پی او میانوالی محمد نوید مزید نفری کے ہمراہ موقع پر موجود، جوانوں کے حوصلے بلند ۔ pic.twitter.com/RosJQSBJEh
— Punjab Police Official (@OfficialDPRPP) January 31, 2023
In the wee hours of Wednesday, Punjab Inspector General of Police Dr. Usman Anwar confirmed to Dawn that armed members of the banned militant organization TTP claimed the attack on the police station.
He stated that in addition to the Punjab CTD and the Lahore police, teams of police from three regions—Mianwali, Dera Ghazi Khan, and Sargodha—had traveled to Mianwali for a “grand operation” against the TTP.
Social media accounts claim that militants opened fire on the Makkarwal police station with heavy fire using automatic weapons around 9 p.m. As the police retaliated, there was a significant firefight that lasted two hours.
‘Attack repulsed’
However, a senior Mianwali police official stated that personnel posted at the police station reacted quickly, preventing the attack. The Punjab IG confirmed that there were no reports of police personnel being injured during the attack.
The official also said that Makarwal, which is in the Isakhel tehsil, is mostly a hilly area with coal mines.
According to the senior official, the terrain also allows militants and terrorists to operate freely, and smugglers who bring contraband, arms, and drugs on foot from Darra Adam Khel in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa frequently use the area.
According to the Punjab IG, the Counter Terrorism Department and Elite Force of the police also joined the operation. In response to the attack, he stated, a high alert had been issued throughout the entire Mianwali region.
He stated that a search operation has been launched after police teams pursued the attackers, who allegedly took advantage of the difficult-to-reach terrain to disappear.
Dr. Anwar stated, “We are also discussing the options to launch a massive search [operation] to trace the terrorists’ hideouts in the Mianwali district.”
He stated that a committee of senior police officers, including Operations DIG Waqas Nazeer, Additional IG (Training), Additional IG Special Branch Punjab, Sultan Chaudhry, and Information Technology DIG Ahsan Younis, were involved.
Dr. Anwar stated that the team would keep in touch with Mianwali RPO Shariq Kamal to develop a new plan for launching the search operation in the district’s hilly regions. A massive search operation and crackdown, according to the IG, would soon begin.
While teams of senior officers were well-prepared for the crackdown, he stated, “I am also reaching there in the morning today.”
