Security forces foiled a major terrorist attack on the Police Training School in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa’s Dera Ismail Khan after a six-hour-long joint operation. The attack left seven police personnel martyred and 13 injured, while at least five terrorists, including a suicide bomber, were killed, Express News reported.
The attack began around 8:30pm on Friday in the Ratta Kulachi area, when heavily armed terrorists attempted to storm the training facility. The attackers drove an explosives-laden truck into the main gate, causing part of the boundary wall to collapse and killing one police officer on duty.
Following the explosion, terrorists dressed in mixed uniforms entered the premises and opened indiscriminate fire, Khorasan Dairy reported
“The area has been cleared, and further search and clearance operations are underway,” DPO Sahibzada Sajjad Ahmad said.
According to police officials, the operation was jointly conducted by the police, CTD, and other security agencies. 13 injured personnel were shifted to the trauma centre at the DHQ Hospital, where they are receiving treatment.
The Khorasan Diary’s monitoring team reported that the attackers had body cams and live-streamed parts of the attack. Initially, the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) claimed responsibility but later denied involvement.
Read: DG ISPR blames K-P lapses for terror surge
Muhammad Imran Khan, Director General of Public Relations (DGPR) Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, said that approximately 200 police recruits and officers present at the training facility at the time of the attack were safely evacuated. “All blocks of the school and the NADRA office have been cleared,” he stated.
During the operation, security forces recovered suicide vests, grenades, explosives, and other ammunition from the site. One of the attackers was reportedly a suicide bomber.
A day earlier, DG ISPR Lt Gen Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry held a press conference in Peshawar to address the deteriorating security situation and rising terrorist activity across Pakistan.
He said the country’s counterterrorism campaign has intensified, with more than 10,000 intelligence-based operations (IBOs) conducted in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa this year alone, resulting in the elimination of nearly 1,000 militants.
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The DG ISPR cautioned that the growing involvement of Afghan nationals in terror incidents has further complicated Pakistan’s security landscape. “Afghanistan is being used as a base for carrying out terrorism in Pakistan,” he said, urging the Taliban government to ensure its soil is not used against Pakistan.
He noted that many militants active in K-P had links to Afghanistan and were using abandoned U.S. weapons left behind after the 2021 withdrawal.
Lt Gen Chaudhry blamed governance failures and the poor enforcement of the National Action Plan (NAP) for the resurgence of terrorism. “The vacuum of bad governance is being filled by the blood of the martyred,” he said, stressing that effective implementation of NAP and improved governance in K-P were crucial to defeating militancy.
