The military’s media relations department said an early morning attack by six militants targeted a base in the Dera Ismail Khan district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, near the Afghan border.
“The attempt to gain access to the post was effectively thwarted, prompting the terrorists to drive into the post in an explosives-laden car before carrying out a suicide bomber attack,” the statement said.
“The explosions caused the building to collapse, resulting in many casualties,” it added, adding that all six attackers had been killed.
“Many of them died in their sleep,” according to a local official who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Another 36 people were injured when the bomber’s explosives-laden car exploded outside a school building requisitioned for a temporary military base, he said.
Tehreek-e-Jihad Pakistan, a new group linked to the Pakistani Taliban, said the attack began around 2 a.m. 30 minutes local time (11:30 p.m. Lithuanian) when one militant blew himself up and others stormed the complex.
The military’s media relations department said there was an “intensification of activity” in Dera Ismail Chane overnight, with a total of 27 militants killed in gunfights with troops in the restive area.
After the Taliban returned to power in Kabul in 2021, there has been a sharp increase in militant attacks in Pakistan, primarily along the border with Afghanistan.
Analysts say Islamist militants have been emboldened by the success of an insurgency in neighboring Afghanistan following the withdrawal of US forces.
In the first half of this year, there were almost 80% of attacks. more compared to last year, according to the analytical center Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies (PICSS).
Islamabad claims that hostile groups are operating from “sanctuaries” across the border. The Taliban government denies such allegations.
The biggest threat to Pakistan is the local branch of the Taliban, Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), which has the same ideology as the rulers in Kabul.
In January, the TTP was linked to a mosque bombing in Peshawar, the capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. More than 80 policemen were killed then.
In September, Islamabad said four soldiers were killed in a cross-border raid by TTP militants in Chitral, a district popular with domestic tourists.
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2024-08-11 05:14:30
