PESHAWAR, Pakistan — A suicide bomber detonated a vehicle packed with explosives near the exterior wall of a military facility in northwestern Pakistan early Monday, and at least one accomplice detonated a vest, wounding eight civilians and damaging nearby homes, local police officials said.
Tahir Khan said security forces had responded swiftly to a “coordinated attack” that had thwarted an insurgent attempt to infiltrate the sprawling military complex in Bannu city, which is home to many military offices and security forces headquarters, and that army helicopters and ground troops were still arriving in the area to pursue more militants.
Local authorities said several soldiers were also wounded in the attack.
There has been no immediate comment from the government or military.
Bannu is in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, which borders Afghanistan, and has seen a surge in militant attacks in recent years. In January 2023, a suicide bomber disguised as a police officer attacked a mosque in the northwestern city of Peshawar, killing at least 101 people, most of them police officers.
No one has claimed responsibility for the attack but the Pakistani Taliban are likely to be suspected, as they have stepped up attacks on security forces across the country in recent months.
The Pakistani Taliban (known as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP) is a separate group from but allied with the Afghan Taliban. Since the Afghan Taliban seized power in neighboring Afghanistan in 2021, the TTP has stepped up attacks on security forces.
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