At least eight Pakistani citizens, including two security personnel, were killed and several others sustained injuries in a series of blasts that rocked the Khybar Pakhtunkhwa provinces of Pakistan on Wednesday, according to Pakistani media.
The blasts took place in the North Waziristan, South Waziristan, and Bajaur districts of Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province during a military operation aimed at eliminating militants from the region. The Pakistan Inter-Service Public Relations (ISPR) released a statement affirming the country’s unwavering commitment to eliminating terrorism, emphasizing that “such sacrifices of our brave soldiers further strengthen our resolve.”
Pakistan has been grappling with a surge in terrorist attacks in recent months, as the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and other militant groups have intensified their violence against the country’s security forces.
The Centre for Research and Security Studies (CRSS), a Pakistani think tank, revealed in a research report published in October that Pakistan suffered a surge in violence in the first nine months of 2023, with at least 386 security forces killed, including 137 army personnel and 208 police personnel. This represents an eight-year high as the country continues to fight proxy terrorism, mainly in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan. In the third quarter of 2023 alone, 445 people were killed and 440 injured in 190 terror attacks and counter-terror operations.
According to the report, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan were the primary centers of violence, accounting for nearly 94% of all fatalities and 89% of attacks (including incidents of terrorism and security forces operations) recorded during this period.
Pakistan has accused the Taliban of being responsible for the recent surge in violence and has urged the regime in Kabul to take stronger measures to prevent cross-border attacks. Pakistan’s Caretaker Prime Minister, Anwar ul Haq Kakar, stated that terrorist attacks in his country have increased by 60 percent since the Taliban regained power in Afghanistan in August 2021. Since then, around 2,300 people have lost their lives in these attacks. Kakar demanded that the Taliban either take action against militants using Afghanistan territory to attack Pakistan or hand them over to Islamabad.
The Taliban, however, has disputed Pakistan’s allegations regarding the presence of TTP militants in Afghanistan, claiming that Pakistan’s own lack of capacity is to blame for its inability to prevent security incidents within its territory. “As they failed in some actions, they cannot prevent the attacks in Pakistan,” Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said recently in response to Pakistan’s statements. “In order to deceive their people and downplay the issue, they refer it to Afghanistan, so that the mindset of the people in Pakistan changes.”
