‘Gunmen kill three in N Pakistan’

Unknown gunmen have killed a senior superintendent of police (SSP) of Diamer, along with two army officers, during an assault on their convoy in Chilas town of Gilgit-Baltistan in northern Pakistan, reports say.

According to Pakistani Dawn news agency, unidentified armed men attacked a government convoy in Chilas early Tuesday, killing SSP of Gilgit-Baltistan’s Diamer area Muhammad Hilal, also known as district police officer and two army officers named as Colonel Ghulam Mustafa and Captain Ashfaq Aziz immediately. Three officials were also reportedly wounded.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack yet. However, Pakistani government often places the blames on pro-Taliban militants for such deadly assaults.

Gilgit-baltistan’s Chief Minister Mehdi Shah has strongly deplored the attack as “an act of terror,” and ordered to cordon off the area for an immediate probe.

The incident came only four days after at least eight people, including five police officers were killed in separate attacks in southern Pakistan on August 2.

Pakistan has been the scene of a surge in violence against security forces and civilians by the militants since 2001 when Pakistan entered an alliance with the US on the so-called war against terrorism.

According to local media, thousands of people have lost their lives in bombings and other militant attacks.

This is while thousands more have fled their homes following the spate of violence and militancy in the war-wrecked country.