Three policemen were killed and six injured Friday when three heavily armed suicide attackers went on a shooting spree and lobbed grenades at a police station in Pakistan’s Peshawar city, a media report said.
The brazen attack was carried out a day after a deadly car bomb killed over a dozen people and injured more than 20 in Peshawar.
On Friday morning, a fierce gun battle raged for nearly two hours as police personnel mounted a strong counter-attack. The three attackers blew themselves up, said police officer Imtiaz Altaf.
The terror attack began at about 7 a.m. when three rebels armed with sophisticated weapons and wearing suicide jackets sneaked into the police station in the Lahore Gate area of the city from the rear gate of the building, reported Xinhua.
They first hid in the TV lounge of the police station and then opened fire and hurled handgrenades at the police personnel inside the building, said Munawar Khan, a sub-inspector of the police station.
Khan told the media there were an estimated 20 policemen inside the building when the police station was attacked. The injured sub-inspector later died at the Lady Reading Hospital.
A large contingent of police and security forces were called in when the police station was attacked. They quickly encircled the police station and exchanged fire with them.
“They blew themselves up in frustration,” said Imtiaz Altaf.
“We have found body parts of the three attackers,” he said, adding the three attackers are all aged below 20.
A bomb disposal squad found seven handgrenades on the spot. They said an estimated five to six kg of explosives were used by the suicide attackers.
The police station is located in a thickly populated area and people remained indoors during the shooting. A girls school is also located near the police station building.