Pakistani Taliban attack a police post in eastern Punjab province

Pakistani Taliban militants have attacked a police post in eastern Punjab province, killing one officer and injuring three others, triggering a shootout that killed two of the attackers, officials said.

The attack occurred early Sunday in the Mianwali district of Punjab province and led to an intense exchange of fire as reinforcements arrived at the besieged police post, said Imran Nawaz, a spokesman for the counterterrorism police.

A group of 10 to 12 militants attacked the Kundal police post in the Easa Khel area of Mianwali, close to the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, after midnight, Nawaz said.

The exchange of gunfire continued for hours, during which two of the attackers were killed, and a third was wounded but escaped with the others, Nawaz said. A search operation was underway in the area to find the attackers, he said.

Mohammad Khurasani, a spokesman for Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP, claimed responsibility for the attack.

One of the deadliest attacks in months

Meanwhile, the death toll from Friday's bombing in the Mastung district of the volatile southwestern Balochistan province reached 60 as some of those who were critically wounded died at the hospital overnight and on Sunday, according to a spokesperson for the main hospital in Quetta, the provincial capital of Balochistan.