PESHAWAR: Militants fired rockets and bullets on a police patrol van in northwestern Pakistan on Monday, killing one officer and injuring seven others, one of them critically, police said.

The incident, claimed by the Taliban, took place in Balyamina village, 10 kilometres west of northwestern Hangu, a town regularly suffering from sectarian violence and a Taliban-linked insurgency.

“One policeman was killed and seven others wounded, one of them critically when militants fired five rockets and shot at their van patrolling the village,” police spokesman Fazal Naeem told AFP.

A senior local police official, Abdul Rasheed, confirmed the incident.

Taliban spokesman Azam Tariq claimed the attack in Balyamina and said: “Our attacks will continue until (US) drone attacks and operations in tribal areas, which are killing innocent people, are stopped.”

A covert US missile campaign in the tribal areas has escalated in recent months with Islamabad's tacit agreement, despite public protestations.