Two separate terrorist attacks on an army base and a medical centre in northwestern Pakistan killed 10 soldiers and 28 others, including female medical workers and children, the army said on Tuesday.
Monday’s attacks coincided with a resurgence of Islamist terrorism on the northwestern border with Afghanistan that prompted the government to launch a counterinsurgency operation there last month.
In the first incident, Islamist terrorists attacked a military base in northwestern Pakistan, with a suicide bomber crashing an explosives-laden vehicle into a perimeter wall, killing eight guards, the military said on Tuesday.
The terrorists targeted a base in Bannu, a city on the border with North Waziristan tribal region close to the Afghanistan border known as a hotbed of Islamist terrorism, the army said in a statement, adding that security forces had killed all 10 attackers involved.
“This timely and effective response averted a catastrophe and saved precious and innocent lives,” the statement added.
Seven army soldiers and one paramilitary soldier were among those killed in Monday’s attack.
It has historically been used as a base for counterterrorism operations.
The British colonial-era military base, historically used as a base for counter-terrorism operations, is surrounded by civilian homes that were shaken by a loud bang from Monday’s explosion, two local officials told Reuters.
They said the initial blast was intended to destroy the perimeter wall and allow other terrorists inside the base.
The attack was claimed by the Hafiz Gul Bahadur group, which the military said was based in neighbouring Afghanistan and was “planning terrorist acts inside Pakistan”.
A spokesman for Afghanistan’s Taliban government did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
Islamabad says it has consistently raised the issue of cross-border attacks with the Taliban regime, which does not allow it to use Afghan territory for attacks.
The incident sparked clashes between border guards from the two countries, and the terrorist group behind the attack was the same one targeted by Pakistan in a rare cross-border operation.
“Pakistan Armed Forces will take all necessary measures as deemed appropriate against any such threats emanating from Afghanistan,” the army said in a statement on Tuesday.
In a second separate attack late Monday night, a health facility in Dera Ismail Khan district was hit, killing five civilians, including two female health workers and two children. All three terrorists, two soldiers and two soldiers, were killed in the ensuing clashes, the army said.
No group has yet claimed responsibility for the second attack.
