MIRANSHAH: An additional station house officer (SHO) of the Miranshah police station was martyred in firing by unidentified individuals near Miranshah Bypass Road in in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s North Waziristan district on Tuesday, police said. District Police Officer (DPO) Sajjad Hussain confirmed the details to Dawn, saying that additional SHO Meera Khan was targeted when he was on duty. “He sustained multiple bullet wounds and succumbed to his injuries,” the DPO said. Police said a search operation was launched into the area following the incident to trace the attackers. An investigation has also been initiated into circumstances surrounding the incident. DPO Hussain said the morale of the police force remained high and law enforcers were determined to track down Khan’s attackers. KP has been witnessing terrorist attacks and security challenges for a long time, including attacks on police personnel. According to a recent report from the Centre for Research and Security Studies, Pakistan recor­ded a sharp 83 per cent increase in violence-linked fatalities during the third quarter of 2026, re­­versing a declining trend reported in the first and second quarters as terrorism and counter-terrorism deaths surged nationwide. Balochistan and KP remained the epicentres of violence, jointly accounting for 98pc of all fatalities during the period. Balochistan recorded 829 deaths, nearly 59pc of the national total, while KP reported 556 fatalities, accounting for more than 39pc. On Oct 7, seven policemen were injured when terrorists attacked a police checkpost in Kohat. Later, an official told Dawn that the attack was repulsed, and the injured cops were safe. It was a day after four Federal Board of Revenue officials were martyred in firing by unidentified men, while a separate attack on a highway traffic police vehicle left a police official martyred and another injured in Dera Ismail Khan. On Sept 27, 14 people, including two rescue officials, were martyred and 35 sustained injuries after a suicide bomber rammed an explosive-laden vehicle into a police checkpost in and then targeted an ambulance taking bodies to hospital in DI Khan. On Sept 18, an explosives-laden vehicle detonated near a mosque in Kohat Police Lines, following which terrorists stormed the compound and attacked police facilities. The attack resulted in the martyrdom of 17 policemen and six civilians.