As the country marked its 78th Independence Day, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa witnessed a night of coordinated attacks. In 13 separate incidents, gunmen and grenade-wielding assailants targeted police stations, checkpoints and patrols across seven districts. Six policemen were martyred and nine others injured. The attacks, some involving rocket-propelled grenades, were claimed to have been repelled in most cases, with an intelligence-based operation in Peshawar neutralising three militants.

Officials have linked the assailants to a TTP-affiliated cell operating under foreign handlers, with plans to escalate violence against security forces and infrastructure. The scale and timing of these assaults suggest a deliberate attempt to challenge the writ of the state on a day meant to symbolise national u

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