At least 23 Pakistani soldiers were killed, and dozens more wounded, when militants rammed an explosive-laden truck into a police station in Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province on Tuesday, December 12th. The attack was confirmed by the Pakistan Army media wing (ISPR).
According to the Pakistani media, the early morning attack targeted a military base in the Dara Ismail Khan district, a place located near the Afghanistan border. This region is a former stronghold of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). Pakistan army said, it conducted an intelligence-based operation in the area and killed at least 27 of the militants who were involved in attacks on security forces and civilians.
The newly formed militant group, Tehreek-e-Jihad Pakistan (TJP), has claimed responsibility for the recent attack, saying that it targeted the Pakistani officers who were at the police station. The group, believed to be an offshoot of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), has been linked to several high-profile incidents in recent months in the country. Notably, they are associated with an attack on an air force base in November, which resulted in damage to three aircraft. Additionally, they claimed responsibility for an attack on a military base in southwestern Baluchistan province in July, where 12 Pakistani soldiers were reportedly killed.
Pakistani Caretaker Prime Minister, Anwaarul Haq Kakar, condemned the attack in a social media post, stating that the country’s security forces cannot be demoralized by such attack. “Their dedication, sacrifice, and valor in the face of terror is unparalleled and a beacon of hope for our nation,” Kakar said. “We will fight back till the menace of terrorism is eliminated from our motherland,” he added.
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. 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.
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. Earlier, Pakistan’s Caretaker Prime Minister stated that terrorist attacks in his country have increased by 60 percent since the Taliban regained power in Afghanistan in August 2021. Since then, according to him, 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.
Following the recent security incidents in Pakistan, the country’s caretaker government has initiated a crackdown on undocumented refugees in the country, a move that has faced wide criticism from the UN, rights groups, and the Taliban authorities in Afghanistan. According to recent reports, over 420,000 individuals have been forcibly deported to Afghanistan since the crackdown started.
The Taliban authorities have constantly brushed away allegations of their ties to the TTP. The group’s chief spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, once responded to allegations from Islamabad that they do not bear responsibility for the country’s internal security concerns.
