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Pakistan police station under siege

ISLAMABAD: Heavily armed terrorists attacked a police station in Dera Ismail Khan on Saturday evening and took at least a dozen policemen hostage.

Six policemen were killed and the hostage situation continued for well over three hours despite an intense gun battle.

At least three explosions were also heard from inside the police station amid reports of two of the terrorists blowing themselves up.

The terrorists attacked the police station in Dera Ismail Khan, a district of Punjab adjoining the tribal agency of South Waziristan, around 6 p.m. While security officials were able to confirm that six policemen were killed as soon as the attack began, there was very little information available about what was going on inside the police station though heavy gunfire and blasts could be heard.

Elite forces of the police and Frontier Corps were pressed into action as the hostage situation persisted. And, after two hours of intense gun battle, there was a lull in the firing but security personnel were not giving out any information to journalists for fear of compromising their positions and strategy inside.

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