A policeman was martyred in Quetta on Wednesday when unidentified assailants opened fire at him while he was heading home, an official said.

Sariab Superintendent of Police (SP) Zia Mandokheil told Dawn.com that Akhtar Husain, deployed at the entrance of the Special Branch office in Sariab Mills Colony, was heading home after completing his night duty when armed men opened fire at him.

He added that the policeman embraced martyrdom on the spot and his body was shifted to Civil Hospital, Quetta, and later to the Quetta Police Lines for funeral prayers.

The SP further said that police reached the incident’s site to initiate an investigation and collected shells of a 9mm pistol.

In a similar incident on Monday, two police officials were martyred and three were injured in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Lakki Marwat when unidentified gunmen attacked a patrolling vehicle.

Late on Sunday, a senior officer of Balochistan’s Khuzdar Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) and his team members survived an armed attack by unknown men, who were forced to flee after the CTD personnel returned fire.

4 alleged terrorists killed in operation in Pishin

Separately, four alleged terrorists belonging to the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) were killed in an exchange of fire during an operation conducted by the Quetta CTD in Balochistan’s Pishin on Tuesday.

A statement issued by the Balochistan CTD said the Quetta CTD received information from a credible source that “notorious TTP sharpshooter” Shakar Din alias Umar Khalid, along with his other associates, was “spotted at a hideout in Surkhab Muhajir Camp in Pishin, and he fully armed, in preparation of another terrorist attack”.

The statement identified Din’s associates as Ahmadullah, Aminullah and an Afghan citizen, Abdul Fateh. It added that they had been involved in various terrorist activities as part of the TTP and at the behest of Pir Ainuz Zaman Akhunzada.

After receiving information about their hideout, the Quetta CTD deputed a specialised combat team to Surkhab that cordoned off the area where the hideout was located and asked the terrorists to surrender, the statement said.

It added that the terrorists opened indiscriminate fire on the CTD team, following which a shootout ensued.

“The CTD team took precautions and returned fire. When the firing stopped, four terrorists were found dead.”

The statement said assault rifles and pistols with live rounds, hand grenades and a bike were seized from the terrorists.

According to the CTD, the slain militants were involved in the attempted target-killing of a CTD Officer in Pishin, the facilitation and transportation of explosive materials, the facilitation of collection of funds for the TTP and an alleged armed combat with Frontier Constabulary border troops during an attempt to infiltrate the Pak-Afghan border near Speen Taza Gulistan in April this year.

It said a case was being registered at the Quetta CTD police station and an “investigation has been launched to arrest the remaining members of the network”.

“More raids are planned for other areas of Balochistan,” it added.

Over the past few months, the law and order situation in the country — especially in KP and Balochistan — has worsened with terrorist groups executing attacks across the country.

Since the talks with the proscribed TTP broke down in November, the militant group has intensified terror attacks, particularly targeting the police in KP and areas bordering Afghanistan. Insurgents in Balochistan have also stepped up their violent activities and formalised a nexus with the outlawed TTP.