Islamabad, Dec 21 : A police vehicle was targeted by assailants near an Afghan refugee camp on Kohat Road in Bannu district of Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, resulting in authorities ordering the settlement's evacuation on security grounds, media reports said on Sunday.

Police said that the attack happened when Deputy Superintendent of Police Mufeez Khan was travelling from Township to Domel. Officials stated that the attackers hiding near the camp opened fire on his vehicle in what they termed a planned ambush, Pakistan's The Express Tribune reported. In response, police personnel fired at the attackers; however, they managed to flee from the spot.

No casualties were reported in the incident, though the police vehicle suffered partial damage. After the attack, police cordoned off the area and started a search operation to find the suspects.

District administration officials stated that 2,567 people lived in the Afghan refugee camp. Of those, 1,700 had been deported to Afghanistan before the attack on Saturday. After the attack, another 120 people from 20 families were deported to Afghanistan. Authorities have deployed heavy machinery to dismantle structures in the camp as part of the evacuation process.

On December 8, a policeman was injured after assailants targeted a police station in Bannu district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, local media reported.

A police officer said that assailants targeted the Ahmadzai police station with sniper fire, Dawn reported. On December 3, three police personnel, including an assistant sub-inspector (ASI), were killed in a blast targeting a police vehicle in the Dera Ismail Khan area of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, according to district police spokesperson Yaqoob Zulqarnain.

Zulqarnain stated that an improvised explosive device was used to carry out the blast in the Paniyala area, Dawn reported.

The police spokesperson stated that ASI Gul Alam, Constable Rafiq and the driver of the mobile van, Sakhi Jan, were killed in the attack, while another constable accompanying them remained unhurt.

Pakistan has witnessed an increase in militant activities in the past year, particularly in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan, after Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) ended its ceasefire with the government in November 2022.

/IANS