5 securitymen die in attacks in Pakistan near Afghanistan border amid government-TTP deal

PESHAWARA/QUETTA: At least five security personnel — three soldiers and two policemen — were killed and six civilians were injured in three separate attacks in Pakistan’s restive western region bordering

Afghanistan

, security forces said on Saturday.

Two soldiers were killed during a shootout with militants in the Hoshab area of Pakistan’s Turbat district, while a third soldier was killed while trying to clear an improvised explosive device in a related incident, the armed forces’ communications wing said. Earlier on Saturday, two policemen were killed and six civilians injured, including a young girl, in attacks in northern Pakistan near Afghanistan as local Taliban militants agreed a month’s ceasefire after talks with the government, police said. The cease-fire between Pakistani Taliban — known as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan — and the Imran Khan government was announced on Tuesday.

The policemen were killed by an improvised explosive device near the border in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, where they were posted at a reservoir. “The other attack took place on the outskirts of

Quetta

, the capital of Balochistan province, where a policeman and five including a young girl and three women were injured.

The explosives were planted in a motorcycle targeting a police patrol in the area, said Ali Raza, a senior police officer. A TTP spokesman denied responsibility for the attacks, saying the militant group will abide by the ceasefire.