Militants attacked a police checkpoint in Hangu district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (a northwestern Pakistani province bordering Afghanistan) late Wednesday, killing nine officers — including a senior deputy superintendent — and wounding 28 others. Security forces repelled the assault, killing 15 attackers; a second checkpoint in Peshawar was also targeted the same night but officers there were unharmed. The attack is the latest in a sharp escalation of violence attributed to the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan, and comes days after 27 police were killed in a separate militant assault in Balochistan, deepening concerns about Pakistan's deteriorating security situation along its Afghan border.