Three police officers were killed and five others wounded on Monday when unidentified gunmen opened fire on a police vehicle in Diamer district, Gilgit-Baltistan (a mountainous region in northern Pakistan). The officers were returning from a two-day operation to destroy poppy crops — used to produce opium — in Thor village when the attack occurred, with a firefight between police and the assailants continuing for several hours. The assault highlights the dangers faced by security forces conducting counter-narcotics operations in the region, where poppy cultivation is widespread and such eradication efforts regularly provoke violent resistance.