3 police and a civilian killed in a pre-dawn militant attack in northwest Pakistan

By RIAZ KHAN
Associated Press

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — Pakistani police say militants attacked a police checkpoint on a highway in the country’s northwest, killing three police officers and a civilian. A police official says the pre-dawn attack on Wednesday took place in Kohat, a district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, but suspicion is likely to fall on the outlawed Pakistani Taliban, who often target security forces across the country, especially in the northwest near the Afghan border. The latest attack was the third on police in the past three days in the province, bringing to 12 the number of officers killed so far in the attacks.