Quetta, March 9: A senior officer of the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) was killed after unidentified assailants opened fire at him in the Killi Ismail area of Pakistan’s Quetta, local media reported on Monday.
Police said Inspector Metha Khan, who recently joined CTD, was shot by armed men when he was passing through the Killi Ismail area on Sunday, Pakistan’s leading daily Dawn reported. A senior police that the CTD officer died on the spot after the armed men on motorcycles opened fire at him.
The official further said that the gunmen escaped from the spot following the incident. Law enforcement personnel cordoned off the area and started a search operation to arrest the attackers.
On March 4, an Assistant Sub-Inspector (ASI), Daulat Khan, was killed in a sniper attack by unknown assailants on the Badan police post in Wara Mamond tehsil of Bajaur district in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Wednesday, local media reported, citing police.
Following the attack, police cordoned off the area and launched a search operation to find the suspects, Pakistan’s anotherleading daily The Express Tribune reported. Attacks on security personnel have occurred in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa over the past month.
Earlier on February 26, four police personnel were killed and two others were injured when unidentified individuals attacked an Ababeel police patrol in the Nawa Kalay area of Khar Tehsil in Bajaur. On February 14, Additional Station House Officer (SHO) Gul Mano Din was killed when unidentified armed men opened fire at Wara Mamond Police Station.
Meanwhile, a report released by an Islamabad-based think tank revealed that combat-related deaths in Pakistan increased by 30 per cent in February, caused due to a rise in suicide attacks across the country.
A report by the Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies (PICSS) revealed that 470 deaths and 333 injuries were documented in February. The victims include 96 civilians, 80 security forces personnel and 294 militants. The number of injured included 259 civilians, 50 security forces personnel and 24 militants, Dawn reported.
The figure showcase a 74 per cent rise in the deaths of security forces personnel, a 32 per cent increase in civilian deaths and 21 per cent surge in militant deaths in comparison to January.
As many as 53 security forces personnel and six civilians were killed while 35 security personnel and 48 civilians were injured in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in February. Three suicide bombing incidents took place in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, which claimed 17 lives, including that of 14 security forces personnel and injured 20 people.
As many as 34 people were killed and 165 others were injured in a suicide bombing incident in Islamabad. Furthermore, two police personnel were killed and four others were injured in a suicide bombing in the Bhakkar district of Punjab province, Dawn reported. The eight suicide attacks reported in January and February in this year are nearly half the total for all of 2025, when 17 such incidents were reported.
According to the data released by PICSS, the first two months of 2026 witnessed 831 combat-related deaths, including 536 militants, 169 civilians and 126 security forces personnel.
–IANS