Taliban attack police station
December 10, 2012Militants armed with suicide vests, guns, grenades and rockets raided a police station on Monday in Kaki, 13 kilometers (8 miles) southwest of Bannu city, which lies close to Pakistan's semiautonomous tribal region. The battle went on for more than an hour.
Senior Pakistani police officer Waqar Ahmed confirmed three policemen and three civilians were killed in the attack. At least eight people were wounded.
Pakistan's Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack. A spokesman for the militant group said the bombing was revenge for the killing of the nephew of former leader Baitullah Mehsud last month. Baitullah died in a US drone strike in 2009.
"We will continue such attacks against this secular government," spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan confirmed to the AFP news agency by telephone from an undisclosed location.
Bannu is a gateway to the North Waziristan tribal area, the main hub for Taliban and al Qaeda militants in Pakistan, and has experienced repeated attacks.
North Waziristan is the most infamous Pakistani militant bastion on the Afghan border that US officials say is used a launch pad for Taliban attacks in to Afghanistan.
hc/dr (Reuters, AFP, AP, dpa)