ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Gunmen stormed the house of a female police officer in northwestern Pakistan on Friday, killing her and five members of her family.
At least a dozen men attacked the house of the officer, Shamshad Begum, 50, who lived in the volatile province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, formerly the North-West Frontier Province. The attackers used a rocket to break into the house and then shot the residents, killing Ms. Begum, two of her sons, two daughters and a daughter-in-law. Two other sons and a daughter were reported to have been wounded.
No group claimed responsibility, but suspicion fell on the Taliban. Ms. Begum had been receiving threats from Taliban militants, who had been pressing her to quit the police force in the deeply conservative area.
The attack appeared to be the first in Pakistan to have singled out a female police officer. In general, the Taliban are opposed to having women join the work force, and they often intimidate women into remaining at home. Women who work as teachers and health workers have been targets of attacks in the past.
As Pakistan battles the Taliban insurgency, officials in the country’s law enforcement agencies have frequently come under attack. Suicide bombers and other militants have assaulted officers in Pakistan’s mostly ill-equipped police force. The police in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province have been particularly vulnerable.
On Thursday, two police officers were killed by a roadside bomb in Bannu, a nearby district. On Wednesday, a suicide bomber drove his explosives-laden vehicle into a mosque next to a police station, killing 18 police officers and 6 others. A militant group, Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan, claimed responsibility for these attacks and promised more.
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