Quetta, March 9 (NationPress) A high-ranking officer from the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) was fatally shot by unidentified gunmen in the Killi Ismail region of Quetta, Pakistan, according to local news sources on Monday.

According to police reports, Inspector Metha Khan, who had recently joined the CTD, was attacked by armed assailants on motorcycles while traversing the Killi Ismail area on Sunday, as highlighted by the prominent daily, Dawn. The police confirmed that the CTD officer succumbed to his injuries immediately at the scene.

The law enforcement authorities stated that the attackers managed to flee the area after the shooting. Following the incident, police set up a perimeter around the area and initiated a manhunt for the perpetrators.

On March 4, another tragic event occurred when Assistant Sub-Inspector (ASI) Daulat Khan was killed in a sniper assault by unknown attackers at the Badan police outpost in the Wara Mamond tehsil of Bajaur district, as reported by local media.

After this attack, law enforcement cordoned off the vicinity and commenced an operation to locate the attackers, as per another leading daily, The Express Tribune. There has been a noticeable increase in assaults targeting security personnel in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa over the past month.

Earlier, on February 26, four police officers lost their lives and two others were injured when unidentified gunmen targeted an Ababeel police patrol in the Nawa Kalay region of Khar Tehsil, Bajaur. Additionally, on February 14, Additional Station House Officer (SHO) Gul Mano Din was fatally shot by unknown assailants at the Wara Mamond Police Station.

According to a report from an Islamabad-based think tank, combat-related fatalities in Pakistan saw a 30 percent uptick in February, primarily due to a surge in suicide attacks across the nation.

The Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies (PICSS) report documented 470 fatalities and 333 injuries in February, with victims including 96 civilians, 80 security forces members, and 294 militants. The report highlighted a staggering 74 percent increase in security forces' deaths, alongside a 32 percent rise in civilian fatalities and a 21 percent increase in militant deaths compared to January.

In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa alone, 53 security personnel and six civilians were killed, while 35 security forces members and 48 civilians sustained injuries in February. Notably, three suicide bombings occurred in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, resulting in 17 deaths, including 14 security personnel, and injuring 20 others.

A separate suicide bombing in Islamabad led to the deaths of 34 individuals and injured 165, while another attack in Punjab’s Bhakkar district killed two police officers and injured four others, as reported by Dawn. The eight suicide attacks recorded in January and February of this year are nearly half of the total incidents reported for all of 2025, when 17 such occurrences were documented.

Data from PICSS indicates that the first two months of 2026 have seen 831 combat-related deaths, comprising 536 militants, 169 civilians, and 126 security personnel.