Extremists detonated a car bomb at a checkpoint in northwestern Pakistan and opened fire on police, killing at least 12 and wounding five, officials said on Sunday.

‘Last night in the Fateh Khel area of Bannu, a suicide bomber rammed an explosives-laden vehicle into a police checkpoint, after which multiple extremists entered the post,’ Bannu police official Muhammad Sajjad Khan told AFP.

He said that 12 officers were confirmed dead with one more missing, the latest attack in the border province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa during a wave of extremism that has strained ties between Islamabad and Kabul.

Gunmen stormed the police check-post after the car blast, opening fire, according to officials who said they also used small drones in the attack.

‘During the assault, the extremists used quadcopters along with heavy weaponry,’ a senior administrative official in Bannu told AFP on condition of anonymity.

‘In addition, while retreating, the attackers took police personnel and weapons from the station with them,’ he added.

Bannu has been gripped in recent years by extremist activity that has grown across Pakistan’s border regions.

The Taliban government in Kabul denies Pakistan’s accusations that Afghan territory is a safe harbour for extremists, but the frosty relationship has spiralled into deadly armed conflict, including Pakistani airstrikes on cities in Afghanistan in recent months.