At least five Pakistani security personnel were killed in two separate terrorist attacks in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on Friday, days after 23 soldiers were killed in a suicide bombing in Dera Ismail Khan, which is considered the deadliest attack on the country's military this year.
According to Geo News, two police personnel were killed and seven others were injured when terrorists attacked the Nala Joint Post with heavy weapons including hand grenades. The injured had been shifted to a medical facility, and their condition was reportedly out of danger.
Subsequently, three policemen were killed and three others injured in a separate terrorist attack in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's Tank district. The police were targeted by the police on Friday morning and one terrorist was killed in the resultant shooting while the Dera Road was closed for traffic. A search operation is underway in the area.
A little-known militant group that identified itself as Ansarul Islam claimed responsibility for the attack in Tank, saying it was their first attack, according to a statement sent to Reuters, as reported by Dawn. However, the police have yet to verify the authenticity of the claim.
23 soldiers killed on Tuesday
This incident comes days after a deadly attack that killed 23 soldiers in the restive Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province that sent shockwaves across Pakistan. Notably, the Tehreek-e-Jihad (TJP), affiliated with Tehreek-e-Taliban (TTP), claimed responsibility for the attack.
According to the police, terrorists attacked the Daraban police station in a remote part of the unruly Dera Ismail Khan district bordering the South Waziristan tribal district. The terrorists rammed an explosive-laden vehicle into the building of the police station, which was followed by a mortar attack.
Soon after the incident, Pakistan summoned Afghanistan's Chargé d'Affaires in Islamabad to deliver the country's strong demarche. Pakistan's Foreign Secretary Syrus Sajjad Qazi called on the envoy to immediately convey to the Afghan interim government to properly investigate and take stern action in the matter.
In response to the demarche, the Afghan Taliban government on Wednesday promised to probe the terror attack, but also asked Islamabad to refrain from blaming Kabul for every problem. “We are shocked at the attack in Pakistan. We will look into the demands made by Pakistan,” said Taliban chief spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid, while asking Pakistan to bolster its security.
On Thursday, Pakistan urged the Taliban government in Afghanistan to take strong action against the perpetrators involved in the attack and hand them over to Islamabad. "Afghanistan must take strong action against perpetrators of this heinous attack and hand them over to Pakistan along with the TTP leadership in Afghanistan," said Pakistan's Foreign Office spokesperson Mumtaz Zahrah Baloch.
Security situation in Pakistan
Pakistan has witnessed a dramatic spike in militant attacks, mainly in its border regions with Afghanistan, since the Taliban returned to power in 2021, especially from the TTP, which shares a similar ideological base and has been said to have taken refuge on Afghan soil.
Earlier in January this year, TTP militants unleashed an explosion in a crowded mosque inside a highly secured police compound in the city of Peshawar, resulting in the killing of at least 100 security personnel. However, while Pakistan has stated that hostile groups operate from "sanctuaries" across the border, the Taliban government routinely denies the charges.
Last month, a Pakistani cop was killed in an attack outside the Nadra office in Tank after being shot by terrorists riding on a motorcycle. Before that, three police personnel were killed in Tank's Kari Shah Noor area.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has become the hotspot for terrorist incidents as statistics reveal that 470 people were killed in 1,050 terror-related incidents in this year alone. Data from the provincial home department and tribal affairs shows that 698 security personnel and citizens were killed in 1,823 terror-related incidents during the past three years.
Seven areas - Peshawar, Khyber, North Waziristan, South Waziristan, Dera Ismail Khan, Bajaur and Tank - along the Pak-Afghan border in KP remained “terrorism hotspots” during the outgoing year.
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