Seven soldiers were killed when a vehicle carrying them was bombed in the country’s northwestern border with Afghanistan on Sunday, the Pakistani military said.
Six non-commissioned officers and one officer were killed by an “improvised explosive device” in Lakki Marwat district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, the army said in a statement.
“The vehicle was completely destroyed in the blast,” a senior police officer in Lakki Marwat told AFP.
“We have received information that the vehicle was hit by gunfire after the explosion,” he added, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The mountainous Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province has long been a hotbed of Islamist militant groups, including the Pakistani Taliban and the local affiliate of the Islamic State.
Advertisement – Scroll to continue
“Lakki Marwat is one of the most terror-affected districts in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa,” a senior police official told AFP.
No group immediately claimed responsibility for Sunday’s attack.
The Pakistani Taliban, known as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), is the most active militant group in the region and regularly targets security forces.
Advertisement – Scroll to continue
Attacks in Pakistan have surged since the Taliban returned to power in neighboring Afghanistan in August 2021.
Last year, 29 suicide bombings were recorded, killing 329 people, the most since 2014, according to the Pakistan Institute of Conflict and Security Studies.
Islamabad has blamed the new government in Kabul for failing to root out militants hiding on Afghan territory as they prepare to launch attacks on Pakistan.
Advertisement – Scroll to continue
The Taliban government has repeatedly denied the allegations and said it would not allow foreign militants on Afghan soil.
But analysts say the TTP shares a common heritage and ideology with the Afghan Taliban.
In January 2023, the TTP was allegedly responsible for a suicide bombing at a mosque in Peshawar, the capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, that killed more than 80 police officers.
In September, the Pakistani government said “hundreds” of TTP fighters carried out a cross-border attack in the Chitral district, popular with domestic tourists, killing four soldiers.
la-jts/dhw
