Ever since terrorism has begun in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), the provincial police have been on a frontline in fight against the scourge as 1,982 personnel and officers have so far laid down their lives, an official report disclosed on Sunday.
Only this year, 137 police personnel have lost their lives in fight against terrorism.
Ever since Akhtar Hayat Khan has taken over as the provincial inspector general of police (IGP), over 400 most wanted militants and their facilitators have either been killed or arrested.
KP IGP has said that during 36-year period, between 1970 and 2006, 369 police officers and personnel embraced martyrdom, while during the last 16 years, 2007 onwards, 1,603 policemen, including two additional IGs and two DIGs, were martyred while fighting against militants.
DPO Dera Ismael Khan Abdur Rauf Babar Qaisrani Baloch has said that 358 police personnel from Peshawar have so far lost their lives in fight against militancy. “It was this year that over 100 police personnel embraced martyrdom in a suicide blast at a mosque in Peshawar’s Police Lines,” he said, and added, “Similarly 221 cops were martyred in Dera Ismael Khan, 211 in Bannu, 136 in Swat, 126 in Mardan and 106 in Kohat. Female police personnel are included in the martyred.”
Likewise, he went on to say, 165 incidents of target killings took place during the last one year in which 137 cops lost their lives.