Three policemen were martyred and at least nine people were injured on Thursday in a blast in the Bara Bazaar in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Khyber district, a police official said.

KP Inspector General (IG) Akhtar Hayat confirmed that the attack took place in a tehsil office’s compound.

Each district has a tehsil office, which is where local government officials perform their duties.

In a statement, IG Hayat said that two suicide attackers had tried to enter the premises of the tehsil office — one from the main gate and the other from the rear.

He stated that both the attackers were gunned down by the police, but added that “firing and blasts were carried out by both attackers”.

Samples of their DNA have been collected for further investigation, the IG said, adding that the blast damaged the office’s main gate and the building.

Meanwhile, Khyber District Police Officer Saleem Abbas told Dawn.com that three policemen were martyred in the attack while nine people were injured.

He added that the authorities concerned were ascertaining the amount of explosives used in the attack.

According to an earlier statement from Hayatabad Medical Complex (HMC) spokesperson Tuheed, two of the injured were civilians.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif “strongly denounced” the attack and expressed grief and sorrow over the policeman’s martyrdom, Radio Pakistan reported.

He directed for the “best possible medical treatment” to be provided to the injured.

The premier further said that the policemen “thwarted the evil intentions of the terrorists by stopping the suspects and risking their lives”, the report said.

Stating that the personnel of law enforcement agencies risk their lives to ensure public safety, he paid tribute to the “valiant personnel”, Radio Pakistan said.

Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah also condemned the incident and vowed to “root out terrorism”.

“The sacrifices of our soldiers are making history,” he said, adding that the “cowardly attacks of terrorists cannot lower our morale”.

The minister further vowed to “not rest unless the last hideout of the terrorists is finished off”.

Last night, two policemen were martyred while as many were injured in an attack on a police check post in Peshawar’s Regi Model Town area.

A day ago, a police constable was martyred in Dera Ismail Khan’s Kulachi tehsil when unknown gunmen sprayed him with bullets.

On Tuesday, six Fron­tier Corps men were injured when a suicide bomber rammed an explosive-laden car into a vehicle carrying the paramilitary personnel in Peshawar’s Hayatabad.

Uptick in terror activities

Pakistan has seen an uptick in terror activities, especially in KP and Balochistan, after the outlawed Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) ended its ceasefire with the government in November last year.

A report released this month by think tank Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies said the first half of the current year witnessed a steady and alarming rise in terror and suicide attacks, claiming the lives of 389 people across the country.

More than a week ago, as many as 12 soldiers of the Pakistan Army embraced martyrdom in two attacks on the military in the Zhob and Sui areas of Balochistan, which was the military’s highest single-day death toll from terrorist attacks reported this year.

Seven “heavily armed” militants were also killed in retaliatory action.

Two days after the incidents, the army expressed “serious concerns” about the “safe havens and liberty of action available” to the TTP in Afghanistan.

“It is expected that the interim Afghan government would not allow the use of its soil to perpetrate terror against any country, in the real sense and in line with commitments made in the Doha agreement,” an Inter-Service Public Relations statement said.

“The involvement of Afghan nationals in acts of terrorism in Pakistan is another important concern that needs to be addressed. Such attacks are intolerable and would elicit an effective response from the security forces of Pakistan,” it added.

The army top brass reiterated the assertion again at the 258th Corps Commanders’ Conference while Defence Minister Khawaja Asif also accused the Afghan Taliban of not honouring their commitments under the Doha accord, i.e. that they would not allow Afghan soil to be used against others.

Previously too, Islamabad had repeatedly raised concerns over the use of Afghan soil by militants for cross-border terrorism.

In response to the recent concerns raised by the army and government, Afghan Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid disputed the statements from the Pakistani side, saying: “We do not allow them (TTP) to live and operate in Afghanistan. We have faced consequences of wars and do not want others to suffer like Afghanistan.”

But in a separate interview with BBC Pashto, Mujahid took a harsher line — ostensibly in a bid to play to the Afghan galleries — advising Pakistan to resolve its internal problems itself, instead of pointing fingers at others.

In a press conference in June, Inter-Services Public Relations Director General Maj Gen Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry said that the security forces conducted 13,619 intelligence operations this year in which 1,172 terrorists were killed or arrested.

“On a daily basis, over 77 operations are being carried out by armed forces, police, intelligence agencies, and other law enforcement agencies to rid of the menace of terrorism,” he said.

DG Sharif added that 95 soldiers embraced martyrdom in these operations.