At least 15 people, including soldiers, police personnel and a government official, were killed after militants rammed an explosives-laden vehicle into a security check post in Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province overnight, the military said on Friday.
According to the military’s media wing, the dead included 12 soldiers, two police personnel and a government official from the forest department. The military described them as having embraced Shahadat (martyrdom) while defending the country.
The attack occurred in Tank district, where militants drove an explosives-laden vehicle into the perimeter wall of a security check post, triggering a powerful blast that caused extensive damage to the facility. Security forces retaliated during the assault and killed 12 militants, according to the military.
Militant violence on rise in Pakistan
No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack. However, the region has witnessed a sharp rise in militant violence, largely attributed to the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), which has intensified attacks in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in recent years.
Pakistan has repeatedly accused militants operating from neighbouring Afghanistan of orchestrating attacks in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan. The Taliban-led government in Afghanistan has denied the allegations, but the accusations have fuelled tensions between the two countries.
The deteriorating security situation has also led Pakistan to carry out airstrikes targeting what it says are militant hideouts inside Afghanistan. The Taliban administration and the United Nations have said that the latest Pakistani strikes in eastern Afghanistan in June killed dozens of civilians.
Militants killed in Balochistan
On July 22, ten militants were killed, and two female suicide bombers were arrested during security operations in anotherย restive province of Balochistan. According to Pakistani military’s media wing, seven militants were killed in Surab district, while three others were eliminated in Mastung district. Security forces also apprehended two female suicide bombers along with their alleged facilitator during the operation in Mastung.
The military said the operations were carried out as part of its ongoing campaign against militants in Balochistan. During multiple intelligence-based targeted raids and area sanitisation operations, security personnel engaged suspected militant hideouts and recovered weapons, ammunition and improvised explosive devices (IEDs).
The operations come amid heightened security concerns in Balochistan. Earlier this month, security forces and law enforcement agencies launched Operation Shaban following a terror attack on a police post at the Mangi Dam pumping station in Ziarat on July 6, in which 27 police personnel were killed.
With inputs from AFP
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