PESHAWAR, Pakistan, Aug 25, (AP): Militants attacked a security forces camp in northwestern Pakistan on Monday, sparking an hours-long gunbattle that left at least three officers and one assailant dead, police said. Seventeen security personnel were wounded in the assault in Hangu, a district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, according to local police official Nazar Mohammad.

He said security forces quickly responded and launched a search operation in the nearby mountains to track down the attackers who fled. Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi paid tribute to the slain officers in a statement and directed authorities to provide the best possible medical treatment to the wounded. No group immediately claimed responsibility, but suspicion is likely to fall on the Pakistani Taliban, known as Tehreek-e-Taleban Pakistan, or TTP.

 Although separate from the Afghan Taliban, the TTP is allied with them, and its fighters and leaders have hideouts in Afghanistan. Pakistan has witnessed a surge in such attacks in recent months. The latest attack in Hangu comes weeks after Pakistan's military launched a "targeted operation” against TTP in another northwestern district, Bajaur displacing nearly 100,000 residents. So far, authorities have not released any details about the ongoing operation. Pakistan carried out an operation in Bajaur against TTP in 2009 as well.