Ten policemen killed by TTP members in Pakistan

At least 10 Pakistani frontier police were killed in an attack by armed men on an outpost near the northwestern city of Dera Ismail Khan, police sources said.

Thursday's attack, claimed by Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), comes as Pakistan battles a resurgence of attacks in its rugged northwest, as well as a growing ethnic separatist insurgency in the south.

Three senior police sources confirmed the attack, saying a large group of militants stormed the outpost, killing members of the frontier constabulary security force.

The sources spoke on condition of anonymity as the matter is a sensitive one.

The attack was confirmed by Ali Amin Khan Gandapur, chief minister of the northwestern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, in a statement on Friday that condemned it, but did not state the number of deaths.

In its statement claiming responsibility, the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) group said the attack was retaliation for the killing of a senior leader, Ustad Qureshi.

Qureshi was one of nine people, including two suicide bombers, killed in an intelligence-based operation in the district of Bajaur bordering Afghanistan, Pakistan's military said in a statement on Thursday.

The TTP is separate from the Afghan Taliban movement, but pledges loyalty to the group that now rules Afghanistan after US-led international forces withdrew in 2021.

Islamabad says the TTP uses Afghanistan as a base and says the ruling Taliban administration has provided safe havens to the group close to the border. The Taliban deny this.