A gang on Thursday attacked police cars with rocket launchers in east-central Pakistan, killing at least nine police officers, police said.

The two police vehicles were moving in the Rahim Yar Khan district of Punjab province when they were attacked on Thursday night.

“The bandits attacked the vehicles with rocket launchers after one of the vehicles in the convoy broke down,” the Punjab inspector general’s office said. “At least nine policemen were martyred in the attack, while several others were injured,” he added.

The Ministry of the Interior raises the death toll to 11. The police announced that they can confirm the death of nine dead.

For decades, criminal gangs have been developing organized activity in the riverine border areas of Sindh and Punjab provinces, where they mainly engage in kidnapping for ransom.

The army launched a large-scale operation against them in Sindh in the early 1990s, but criminal gangs have re-emerged as successive governments have failed to maintain law and order in the province.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif condemned the attack and ordered “immediate action” against the perpetrators, his office said.