A police personnel in Pakistan was killed in a terrorist attack initiated by the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) group at a patrolling post in Punjab province's Mianwali area on Sunday. This comes after a devastating suicide blast in Balochistan on Friday that killed 60 people.
In a statement, Punjab Police chief Usman Anwar said that 12 to 15 "terrorists" - the word used for members of Pakistan Taliban - attacked the patrolling post overnight which was "successfully thwarted", Dawn reported.
In the shootout, Head Constable Haroon was killed, along with two terrorists, while many TTP members sustained injuries. "“Following a thorough area search conducted by the CTD personnel, two terrorist bodies were discovered,” said Anwar.
One of the terrorists has been identified as Zubair Nawaz, brother of Arshad Nawaz, a member of the TTP, with the help of a comprehensive database and local intelligence, Anwar further said in the statement.
The second terrorist was Muhammad Khan who was a “dedicated member of the group” and “proved to be more dangerous than Zubair”.
The Punjab police chief detailed that the patrolling post was one km inside the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa border and forces had been alerted about the attack. The terrorist attack was condemned by many Pakistani leaders, including former PM Shehbaz Sharif.
Suicide blasts in Pakistan
The terrorist attack comes just a couple of days after a devastating suicide blast near a mosque in Mastung district of Pakistan's Balochistan province that killed 60 people. Mastung Assistant Commissioner Attahul Munim said that a suicide bomber blew himself up near the vehicle of Mastung Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Nawaz Gishkori, who was among the deceased.
In less than 24 hours after a massive suicide blast in Balochistan's Mastung district, another suicide explosion at a mosque in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's Hangu district claimed five lives and injured 12 people on Friday.
According to provincial interim Information Minister Feroze Jamal, two suicide bombers managed to reach the mosque but their entries were restricted by police officers stationed there. One of the attackers was killed during a shootout with the police at the gate, while the other entered the mosque and blew himself up.
Meanwhile, in the wake of the Mastung explosion and the twin suicide blasts in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's Hangu district yesterday, Pakistan has vowed to strike all terrorist groups, including the Islamic State (ISIS) and the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban (TTP), Dawn reported.
Amid an increasing spree of terrorist attacks in Pakistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan have become the prime targets of such terror activities since the Tehreek-e-Taliban (TTP) ended its ceasefire with the government last year.
There were 99 attacks across the country in September this year, the highest in any single month since 2014, according to data by the Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies (PICSS). These attacks have resulted in 112 deaths and 87 injuries, mostly targeting security forces personnel and civilians.
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