Three Traffic Police Constables Killed in Tank Attack, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

Gunmen opened fire on a traffic police vehicle in the Wazirabad area of Tank district, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, on Monday 28 September 2026. Three traffic police constables were killed in the Tank attack and an officer was badly injured, state broadcaster Radio Pakistan said.

The injured officer was taken to a nearby hospital. Security forces sealed off the area and started a search for the attackers. Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi condemned the attack the same day.

This is an early, official account. The names of the three constables and the officer had not been released on any official website we checked on Monday afternoon. We will add them when police publish them.

Gunmen fired on a traffic police vehicle in Wazirabad, Tank

Three traffic police constables were killed and one officer was severely injured when attackers fired on their vehicle in Wazirabad, Tank district, on 28 September 2026. Radio Pakistan reported the figures and said the attackers were unknown at that point.

The constables were on traffic duty, not on a raid or an operation. Radio Pakistan's report calls it a traffic police vehicle. The Interior Minister's statement calls it a traffic police patrolling van. Both describe the same unit.

Radio Pakistan's wording is plain: three traffic police constables "were martyred and an officer was severely injured when unknown assailants opened fire". According to what it called initial reports, the injured officer was "shifted to a nearby hospital for treatment". His condition has not been published.

From the official accounts, the day went in this order:

1. Gunmen open fire on a traffic police vehicle in Wazirabad, Tank.
2. Three constables are killed and one officer is badly hurt.
3. The injured officer is moved to a nearby hospital.
4. Security forces cordon off the area and start a search operation.
5. The Interior Minister condemns the attack and sends condolences.

Official accounts differ on who carried out the attack

Radio Pakistan's news report said "unknown assailants" fired on the vehicle. The Interior Minister's statement, carried in the same report, blamed "Khawarij terrorists". No official body had named a group or reported an arrest when we checked.

"Khawarij" is the term the state uses for the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP. So the minister's statement points at the TTP, while the news account says the attackers were not yet identified. We report both and do not add our own view.

Mohsin Naqvi "strongly condemned the firing by Khawarij terrorists on the traffic police patrolling van in Tank", Radio Pakistan said. He expressed grief over "the martyrdom of three traffic police personnel" and solidarity with their families. He said "their unmatched sacrifices will not go waste".

We did not find a statement on the attack on the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Police website, whose news list showed older items, or on the Press Information Department's press release page. The ISPR website refused our request, so we could not check it.

Tank is a southern district in the Dera Ismail Khan Division

Tank is a district in southern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Its headquarters is Tank city. It falls in the Dera Ismail Khan Division, the same division as the Dera Ismail Khan district where a police checkpost was bombed two days earlier.

The Tank district administration's own website describes it as "an important gateway between settled areas and the tribal regions". It says farming is the backbone of the local economy, with trade and small businesses adding to it.

The same site lists the Deputy Commissioner of Tank and the Commissioner of Dera Ismail Khan Division, and gives the district office number as 0963-511326. Wazirabad, where Monday's attack took place, is in Tank district, according to Radio Pakistan.

The attack came two days after the Dera Ismail Khan checkpost blast

Monday's attack in Tank came two days after a suicide bomber hit the Aman Mela checkpost in Dera Ismail Khan on 26 September. Radio Pakistan said 11 people were killed there. Both districts are in the same division of southern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

The table below lists attacks on police in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa this month that we have reported, with the official figures we read. Where we found no official figure, we say so rather than guess.

Full details of the suicide blast at the Dera Ismail Khan police checkpost, including where the figures differ, are in our report from that night. Those differences have not been settled by any official document since.

Policing in the province is also under review. The provincial cabinet approved a draft KP Police Act 2026 on 23 September, but it is not law yet. The Police Act 2017 still governs the force.

Security forces are also running operations in Balochistan. ISPR said on 27 September that more than 71 militants had been killed there in 96 hours, part of the security operations in Balochistan this month.

Travellers and families should use official numbers

If you live in or travel through Tank, expect police checks near Wazirabad while the search runs. Call 15 for police and 1122 for an ambulance. No official travel advisory for the district had been published when we checked on Monday.

Families who need news of a relative in the police should contact the district police or the district administration directly. Please do not share photos or videos of the victims, and do not pass on names until police confirm them.

Other numbers are in the list of emergency and helpline numbers in Pakistan. The Rescue 1122 service runs ambulances across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, including the southern districts.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Police keeps a Police Shuhada section on its website for families of officers killed on duty. We could not read the support package details there on Monday, so we do not give amounts.

Common questions

How many police were killed in the Tank attack?

Three traffic police constables were killed and one officer was severely injured, Radio Pakistan said. No other figure had been published officially when we checked.

Where in Tank did the attack happen?

In the Wazirabad area of Tank district, in southern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The attackers fired on a traffic police vehicle.

Who was behind the attack on traffic police in Tank?

Radio Pakistan said the attackers were unknown. The Interior Minister blamed "Khawarij terrorists", the state's term for the banned TTP. No arrest had been announced.

Have the names of the constables been released?

Not on any official website we checked on 28 September 2026. We will add them once police publish them.

Which division is Tank district in?

Tank is in the Dera Ismail Khan Division of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, according to the district administration's website.

What number should I call in Tank in an emergency?

Call 15 for police and 1122 for an ambulance or rescue.

How we verified this

What we checked, where we read it, and what we could not confirm.

Last checked on 28 September 2026 at about 15:10 PKT. The deaths, the injury, the place, the hospital move, the cordon and search, and the Interior Minister's statement are from the Radio Pakistan report of 28 September 2026. The description of Tank district and its division are from the Tank district administration website. The Dera Ismail Khan figures are from Radio Pakistan reports of 26 September. The Kohat figure is reported in the press only. We found no statement on the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Police or Press Information Department websites, and the ISPR website did not open for us. Nothing here alleges fault by any official or institution. If any detail is wrong, tell us and we will correct it openly.