Karachi: At least eight soldiers of the Pakistan Army were killed in an attack by terrorists on a check post in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's Bannu area, according to the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) on Tuesday. The military said terrorists attacked the Bannu Cantonment in the earlier hours of Monday but their efforts to enter the facility were thwarted by security personnel, who eliminated 10 terrorists, as per Geo News.
After they failed to enter the premises, the terrorists rammed an explosive-laden vehicle into the perimeter wall of the cantonment, which caused a portion of the wall to collapse and damage adjoining infrastructure, killing eight soldiers. The military has accused the Hafiz Gul Bahadur group operating from Afghanistan of being involved in the attack. The facility lies on the border with the restive area of North Waziristan.
The group is believed to be affiliated with the Tehreek-e-Taliban (TTP) and has reportedly used Afghan soil to carry out terrorist attacks inside Pakistan several times in the past. The restive region has long been a safe haven for Islamist militants who operate on both sides of the border. The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), an umbrella group of radical Islamist groups, has been waging a war against the state to try to overthrow the government.
Pakistan had summoned the Afghan Charge d'Affaires in November last year in Islamabad and demanded the extradition of terrorist Gul Bahadur. Islamabad has urged Afghan authorities to take action against terrorist groups operating on its soil, but Kabul has said rising violence in Pakistan is a domestic issue, as relations between the two neighbours have soured.
TTP operations in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
The group, which is believed to be close to al-Qaeda, has been blamed for several deadly attacks across Pakistan, including an attack on army headquarters in 2009, assaults on military bases, and the 2008 bombing of the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad. The Taliban takeover in Afghanistan emboldened TTP, whose top leaders and fighters are hiding in Afghanistan.
In January last 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.
A United Nations report published earlier this year said the Taliban continued to be “sympathetic” to the TTP and supplied it with weapons and equipment, and some Afghan Taliban members joined the TTP in conducting cross-border raids against Pakistan, according to Voice of America.
Terrorism in Pakistan
Last month, at least seven soldiers, including a Captain, were killed in a bomb blast on Sunday in the Lakki Marwat district, which is on the edge of a lawless tribal region near the border along with Afghanistan. A security convoy was heading towards Kachi Qamar, when it was attacked by terrorists.
Pakistan continues to see an uptick in terror-related incidents - 240 - in the second quarter of 2024 that have caused 380 terror-linked fatalities and 220 injuries among civilians, security personnel, and outlaws, according to a Security Studies (CRSS) Annual Security report. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan alone have faced nearly 92 per cent of the deaths and 87 per cent of the attacks.
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