����ֱ��

PESHAWAR: Three policemen were injured in an improvised explosive device (IED) blast that targeted a police convoy in Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province, police said on Sunday.

The attack took place in the Hangu district of KP, which borders Afghanistan and has witnessed a surge in militancy in recent years. No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.

In a statement issued from his office, KP Chief Minister Sohail Afridi directed authorities provide immediate and best medical assistance to policemen injured in the bomb attack.

“Those involved in cowardly attacks will be brought to justice,” he promised, seeking a detailed report into the incident from the provincial police chief. “We pay tribute to the courage and dutifulness of police personnel.”

The chief minister directed authorities further tighten security measures in the province and keep a close watch on suspicious elements.

KP has witnessed a surge in militancy since a fragile truce between the Pakistani Taliban, or the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), and the state broke down in November 2022.

The TTP and other militant groups have since mounted their attacks against security forces, besides targeted killings and kidnappings of law enforcers and government officials, in recent months.

Islamabad has frequently accused neighboring Afghanistan of sheltering anti-Pakistan groups which launch cross-border attacks. Afghan officials deny allowing the use of their soil against any country.

The two countries last month engaged in fierce fighting along their 2,600-kilometer-long border over the surge in attacks, leaving dozens of people dead on both sides, before they reached a ceasefire in Doha, Qatar on Oct. 19. The two sides will meet again on Nov. 6 to discuss a mechanism to keep in check militant groups operation in border areas.

Earlier in the day, a police constable was killed while two others were injured as explosives detonated inside a Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) police station in KP’s provincial capital of Peshawar, a police official said.

“Initially, after verification, we can say that some stored explosive material which was present inside the storeroom of the police station has exploded,” Capital City Police Officer (CCPO) Dr. Mian Saeed told reporters.

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s most populous Punjab province on Sunday extended a ban on the gathering of four or more persons by another seven days till Nov. 9, the provincial home department said, in a bid to maintain law and order and public peace.

The ban was initially imposed on Oct. 8 amid violent protests by the Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) religio-political party, and has since been extended multiple times.

TLP supporters had clashed with police on the outskirts of Lahore on their way to Islamabad. The clashes had killed five people, including two policemen, and injured more than 100 others.

The party said its march toward Islamabad was for peaceful purposes, but the violent protests prompted the Pakistani government to declare the TLP as a proscribed organization.

“Home Department, Government of the Punjab, vide Order of even number dated October 25, 2025 imposed following restrictions under Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898, across the entire Province,” the Punjab home department said in a notification on Sunday, adding that the restrictions have been extended by another seven days.

“A complete ban on the assembly, gathering, procession, or sit-in of four (04) or more persons in any public place, street, road, or open space.”

It said it had reviewed latest reports and threat assessments shared by law enforcement and intelligence agencies, and it was evident that the “threat perception to public peace, tranquility, and law and order has not abated.”

Other restrictions include a ban on the carrying, display of all kinds of weapons, both licensed and unlicensed, in public places; the of loudspeakers or other sound amplifying devices for provocative, sectarian or inflammatory content, other than the conventional use for prayer calls sermons at mosques; and publishing, disseminating, or displaying of any provocative, hateful, or sectarian material that may incite public sentiment or disturb inter-faith and sectarian harmony.

“The continuance of the restrictions is deemed essential to prevent any potential disturbance to public order, sectarian strife, or commission of any offense, and to ensure the safety and security of the lives and property of the general public,” the home department said.