Police constable killed in militant attack in Pakistan's Bannu

Islamabad [Pakistan], January 8 : A police constable was killed and another sustained gunshot wounds after militants attacked a police patrol in Pakistan's Bannu on Saturday, the Dawn reported.
According to officials, a police mobile van came under a gun and bomb attack in Bannu's Domel area. This attack followed after a team from Domel police station spotted two suspicious motorcyclists while on patrol duty.
The officials signalled the motorcyclists to stop.
"But they violated the signal, opened fire on the cops and also hurled a hand grenade towards them," the Dawn quoted an official as saying.
The police personnel fired back at the attackers, who managed to flee to Dogar Umarzai village.
The militants, according to the report, entered a house and held the family hostage. "While the police were surrounding the house, the attackers hurled a hand grenade towards them, killing head constable Pasham Khan and wounding another constable, Shah Wali Khan," the official said.
An exchange of fire followed between the police and the militants. The militants, however, managed to escape.
The officials said additional police reinforcements from the township and other nearby police stations, as well as commandos of the Quick Response Force (QRF), also reached the area and launched a search for the attackers, according to the Dawn.
The dead body and the injured constable were shifted to Bannu local hospital.
Recently, two Pakistani police personnel and a civilian were killed in separate militant attacks in the Lakki Marwat district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
Two men in their 40s, including a police officer, lost their lives when armed motorcyclists attacked them near the Paharkhel Thall area in Lakki Marwat, the Dawn reported.
"As soon as Younas Khan and Asmatullah riding a motorcycle reached Manjiwala link road from Paharkhel Thall village, two armed motorcyclists opened fire on them," a police officer was quoted as saying by the Pakistan daily.
As militancy continues to rise in Pakistan, Bannu and Dera Ismail Khan regions in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province have seen more attacks compared to other divisions of the province in the last few months.
The prime target of the attacks remained police and security forces in North and South Waziristan, Bannu, Lakki Marwat, Dera Ismail Khan districts of the DIK and Bannu division, The News International newspaper reported.
In a matter of few months, attacks were reported in Peshawar, Khyber as well as a few districts of Malakand and Kohat divisions.
According to the Pakistani newspaper, most attacks were carried out on police stations, posts and patrolling vehicles or the policemen fell victim to target killing.