ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s military said on Tuesday two separate attacks in the volatile northwestern country near the border with Afghanistan killed at least 15 people, including 10 soldiers, adding that security forces killed all 13 attackers in the ensuing gunfight.
The army’s media wing, Integrated Services Public Relations (ISPR), reported that terrorists attacked a rural health facility in the militant-hit Dera Ismail Khan district on Tuesday, killing two female health workers, two children and a security guard. Pakistani forces “effectively engaged” the attackers, killing three and losing two soldiers in the clash, ISPR said.
The announcement came just hours after the military confirmed that at least eight soldiers were killed in a pre-dawn attack on an army base in the garrison town of Bannu on Monday by militants. Security forces said they killed all 10 attackers in the ensuing gunfight.
According to ISPR, the attack on Bannu garrison was planned by Afghanistan-based militants. “The infiltration attempt into the garrison was effectively thwarted by security personnel, forcing the terrorists to ram an explosives-laden vehicle into the perimeter wall of the garrison,” ISPR said.
The army added that the suicide attack destroyed part of the wall and damaged adjacent infrastructure, killing eight soldiers. “In the ensuing operation, our troops effectively engaged the terrorists, resulting in the sending of all 10 terrorists to hell,” the army said. “This timely and effective response by the security forces averted a catastrophe and saved precious and innocent lives,” it added.
The explosion was heard for miles around and damaged nearby homes and businesses, local residents said, adding they saw plumes of black smoke rising from the sky above the site and heard gunfire inside the camp.
Shortly after the attack began, a militant group allied with the Pakistani Taliban (TTP), a globally designated terrorist organisation, claimed responsibility for the attack.
An ISPR statement blamed the attack on the Hafiz Gul Bahadur group, which it said was based in Afghanistan and has in the past used Afghan territory to orchestrate terrorist acts inside Pakistan.
Since the Taliban seized power in Afghanistan three years ago, TTP attacks targeting army and police have been frequent, particularly in Bannu and adjacent areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province along the border.
Pakistan alleges that the TTP’s leaders and fighters are increasingly being supported by Afghanistan’s de facto rulers, a charge the Taliban denies, saying the TTP is an internal issue that Pakistan should deal with.
There has been a surge in terrorist incidents since Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif announced a new military offensive against militants and extremists in the country’s northwest and southwest border areas, which Pashtun and Baloch leaders in Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces fiercely protested through protests, rallies and digital media campaigns.
The army’s media wing, Integrated Services Public Relations (ISPR), reported that terrorists attacked a rural health facility in the militant-hit Dera Ismail Khan district on Tuesday, killing two female health workers, two children and a security guard. Pakistani forces “effectively engaged” the attackers, killing three and losing two soldiers in the clash, ISPR said.
The announcement came just hours after the military confirmed that at least eight soldiers were killed in a pre-dawn attack on an army base in the garrison town of Bannu on Monday by militants. Security forces said they killed all 10 attackers in the ensuing gunfight.
According to ISPR, the attack on Bannu garrison was planned by Afghanistan-based militants. “The infiltration attempt into the garrison was effectively thwarted by security personnel, forcing the terrorists to ram an explosives-laden vehicle into the perimeter wall of the garrison,” ISPR said.
The army added that the suicide attack destroyed part of the wall and damaged adjacent infrastructure, killing eight soldiers. “In the ensuing operation, our troops effectively engaged the terrorists, resulting in the sending of all 10 terrorists to hell,” the army said. “This timely and effective response by the security forces averted a catastrophe and saved precious and innocent lives,” it added.
The explosion was heard for miles around and damaged nearby homes and businesses, local residents said, adding they saw plumes of black smoke rising from the sky above the site and heard gunfire inside the camp.
Shortly after the attack began, a militant group allied with the Pakistani Taliban (TTP), a globally designated terrorist organisation, claimed responsibility for the attack.
An ISPR statement blamed the attack on the Hafiz Gul Bahadur group, which it said was based in Afghanistan and has in the past used Afghan territory to orchestrate terrorist acts inside Pakistan.
Since the Taliban seized power in Afghanistan three years ago, TTP attacks targeting army and police have been frequent, particularly in Bannu and adjacent areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province along the border.
Pakistan alleges that the TTP’s leaders and fighters are increasingly being supported by Afghanistan’s de facto rulers, a charge the Taliban denies, saying the TTP is an internal issue that Pakistan should deal with.
There has been a surge in terrorist incidents since Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif announced a new military offensive against militants and extremists in the country’s northwest and southwest border areas, which Pashtun and Baloch leaders in Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces fiercely protested through protests, rallies and digital media campaigns.
