63 cops from Pakistan's KP province killed this year

Peshawar: As many as 63 cops have lost their lives in target killings and other attacks in the current year, the highest since 2016.
"As many as 63 policemen have fallen victim to target killings as well as other attacks during the current year," an official confirmed. The majority of the attacks took place in the Dera Ismail Khan region, followed by Bannu, Peshawar and Mardan divisions. At least, 36 policemen were killed in 2017, 30 in 2018, 38 in 2019, 28 in 2020 and 59 in 2021, The News International reported.
In late 2021, the attacks have increased. Mostly cops were hit by target killers.
According to the publication, the government and the force need to take concrete actions to protect the lives of the cops as well as the general public in future.
Apart from target killings by the armed attackers, a number of police stations, posts and vans have been attacked with grenades in the last several months.
The latest attack on the force was at Matani in Peshawar in which two constables were killed and another was wounded, last week.
For the KP Police, the year 2009 was the worst 209 policemen, including one SP, 3 DSPs and 4 inspectors were martyred in different terrorist attacks in the province, according to The News International.
There are only 408 policemen surviving out of a total force of 1,480 policemen from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa with the remaining 1072 constables getting killed in suicide attacks, bomb blasts, target killings, encounters and ambushes across the province over the last 15 years.
Also, a total of 389 Pakistan soldiers were killed in the province in the past 36 years, from 1970 to December 2006, The News International reported.
According to the official record of the police, among the deceased personnel, 238 of them were constables, 28 head constables, 58 assistant sub-inspectors (ASIs), 37 sub-inspectors (SIs) and two were inspectors.
Moreover, during that period, two Deputy Superintendents of Police (DSPs), one assistant superintendent of police, one SP and one Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Abid Ali lost lives in various kinds of incidents.
According to the publication, the situation took an ugly turn in January 2007. In the first major attack on police, the then capital city police officer Malik Mohammad Saad along with a number of cops and others was martyred in a suicide attack near Qasim Ali Khan Mosque in Qissa Khwani in the first month of 2007.
Since then police have lost 1,480 cops in different parts of the province.
As many as 32 inspectors, 109 sub-inspectors, 88 ASIs, 155 head constables and 1,072 constables also lost their lives in different attacks since 2007.
There was some peace after 2014 but the attacks on the cops intensified again late last year, reported The News International.
The first half of July this year witnessed the worst situation in the past eight years. Recently, on Wednesday, the office of DSP Badaber in Peshawar was attacked with a hand grenade but no casualty was reported. (ANI)