Pakistan taliban kill six police officers

Peshawar, Pakistan - Six police officers were killed in an

ambush in northwest Pakistan on Wednesday, officials said, an assault claimed by the nation’s homegrown Taliban.

The Pakistan Taliban share common lineage with the Afghan Taliban and have staged an increasing number of strikes in the year since Kabul fell into the hands of the hardline Islamists.

Gunmen with automatic rifles launched an attack at around 7am (0200 GMT) on

a police vehicle patrolling the village of Shahab Khel, 100km (60 miles) from the Afghan border.

‘All the six policemen were killed’ under fire from both

sides, Tariqullah Khan, a district official in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, told AFP.

The death toll was confirmed by a second police official. In a separate incident on Wednesday, the military said two soldiers were killed in a clash with militants in the northwestern district of Bajaur that borders Afghanistan.

The Pakistan Taliban - known as Tehreek-e-taliban Pakistan (TTP) - said the police were ‘coming for a raid’ when they were gunned down in Shahab Khel.

It said in a statement to AFP its own fighters ‘managed to reach their base safely’ after looting weapons and ammunition.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif offered his condolences

and said on Twitter, ‘terrorism continues to be one of Pakistan’s foremost problems’.