At least six police officers, including Deputy Superintendent of Police Asad Mehmood, were killed and four others injured when armed militants targeted a police mobile van on Shakardara Road in Kohat district, officials said on Tuesday.

According to police sources, the attackers opened fire on the van and then set it on fire, spreading panic in the area.

The injured officers were rushed to a nearby hospital for treatment.

Security forces and additional police personnel reached the scene after the attack and launched a cordon-and-search operation in the surrounding area.

Police officials say that the bodies of the martyred police officials have been shifted to the hospital for legal formalities.

According to initial information, the attack was an ambush in which the police van was badly damaged.

Following this attack, security has been put on high alert in Kohat and surrounding areas and with strict checking enforced at entry and exit points.

Senior police officers say that strict action will be taken against elements trying to sabotage law and order, adding that the sacrifices of DSP Asad Mehmood and other officials will not be allowed to go in vain.

President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz strongly condemned the terrorist attack.

The president and the prime minister paid tribute to DSP Asad Mamood and other personnel who embraced martyrdom.

They also expressed condolences and sympathies with the bereaved families of the shaheed DSP and other shuhada.

The president said the martyred personnel had made huge sacrifices for the motherland.

He further reiterated that the cancer of terrorism, perpetrated under the foreign patronage, was being rooted out from the country, President’s Secretariat Media Wing said in a press release.

“The menace of terrorism will be eradicated from the country,” PM Office Media Wing, in a press release, quoted the prime minister as saying.