An attack on a checkpoint in northern Pakistan left at least seven police officers and eight terrorists dead, local media reported, just days after more than two dozen people were killed in a similar clash.
The Wednesday evening attack occurred in Hangu district, in Pakistan's northern border province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Geo News reported, citing local District Police Officer Tariq Habib.
An additional 22 police personnel were wounded in the attack, Habib said, with a clearance operation launched in the area.
Some of the wounded officers were in critical condition at a local hospital.
No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.
It comes just days after unidentified terrorists attacked another checkpoint in the Tank district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
The province borders Afghanistan and has been gripped by a growing violent campaign by the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) group.
In Friday's attack, terrorists rammed an explosives-laden vehicle into a security check post, killing 15 people including soldiers, police and government personnel.
Security forces killed 12 militants, according to the military.
Bitter rift
Pakistan has witnessed a surge in terrorist violence in recent years, much of it blamed on the TTP, a separate group but a close ally of the Afghan Taliban, who returned to power in neighbouring Afghanistan in 2021.
Pakistan has previously blamed the increase in attacks in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the southern border province of Balochistan on attacks emanating from Afghanistan, whose Taliban government denies Afghan involvement.
The accusations have sparked a bitter rift and armed conflict between the neighbouring countries, and Pakistan has carried out air strikes against terrorist targets on Afghan soil.
