Gunmen kill five Pakistani police, two civilians near Afghan border, police say

By Saud Meushud and Mushtaq Ali

DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan, Feb 24 (Reuters) - Gunmen ambushed a police vehicle and killed five officials and two civilians in northwest Pakistan on Tuesday, police said, as the South Asian nation struggles to quell a wave of militant attacks and faces renewed border tensions with Afghanistan.

The ambush in Kohat city, situated along the border with Afghanistan, comes a day after a drone and gun attack killed three paramilitary troops in the nearby city of Karak.

"Several gunmen attacked a police patrol. A senior officer is among five policemen dead. They also burnt the vehicle," a police spokesperson said.

Two civilians injured in the attack died in hospital, he said.

No group claimed responsibility for either of the attacks.

Pakistan carried out air strikes in Afghanistan on Saturday - at the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan - on what it said were militant targets responsible for a spate of recent suicide bombings on Pakistani soil.

Kabul and the United Nations have said that the strikes killed at least 13 civilians.

Islamabad has said militant groups have been provided sanctuaryin Afghanistan, from where they plan and execute attacks across the border.

Afghanistan has denied the charge, saying the militancy is Pakistan's internal problem.

"Pakistan’s attack was an act of terror that targeted civilians on Afghan soil and violated Afghanistan's sovereignty," Taliban government spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid said on Tuesday.

The districts bordering Afghanistan have long been home to a variety of Islamist militant groups, including the Pakistani Taliban, also known as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, who have fought against the state since 2007.

(Reporting by Saud Mehsud in Dera Ismail Khan, Mushtaq Ali in Peshawar and Mohammad Yunus Yawar in Kabul; Writing by Asif Shahzad and Hritam Mukherjee; Editing by YP Rajesh and Sharon Singleton)