Pakistan: 23 soldiers killed in attack on army base

In Pakistan, a police compound faced a militant attack resulting in the death of at least 23 soldiers and numerous injuries. The incident occurred in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province near the Afghan border when militants targeted the compound with a vehicle laden with explosives during the early hours.

Affiliated with the Pakistani Taliban, a militant group claimed responsibility for the attack on Tuesday. The targeted compound served as a base camp for the Pakistani army. Preceding the vehicular assault, militants attempted to breach the compound in the Dera Ismail Khan district, but their efforts were thwarted, as stated by the army.

Following this, the group employed an explosive-laden truck to breach the compound’s boundary wall, followed by a suicide bomb attack that led to the building’s collapse, potentially triggering explosions of stored ammunition. Reports indicate that a significant number of casualties occurred while individuals were asleep. The military reported six attackers killed and a total of 27 militants eliminated in subsequent operations overnight.

Expressing condemnation, Pakistan’s caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar ul-Haq Kakar and caretaker Interior Minister Sarfraz Bugti decried the attack. The Tahreek-e-Jihad Pakistan (TJP), a recently emerged group, claimed responsibility for the assault.

Militant activities in Pakistan have surged, especially in border regions with Afghanistan, following the withdrawal of the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) from a ceasefire last year. Analysts suggest that the TTP has been emboldened by the Afghan Taliban, which assumed power in Afghanistan in 2021. While Islamabad asserts that insurgents operate from across the border, the Afghan Taliban denies these claims.

The TTP, distinct from the Afghan Taliban, shares a similar hard-line ideology and has been engaged in prolonged conflict with Pakistan’s armed forces and police. The group aims to impose its interpretation of Sharia law in Pakistan’s northwest.

This incident follows a bomb blast in Peshawar in January, claiming at least 100 lives. At that time, the TTP denied responsibility, attributing the attack to a commander of a breakaway faction.