ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN – At least 10 Pakistani soldiers were killed, and six others were wounded in multiple militant attacks on a police station in the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on Monday, February 5.
According to the Pakistani media, the early morning attack targeted a police station in the Dara Ismail Khan district, a place located near the Afghanistan border. This region is a former stronghold of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).
“More than 30 terrorists launched an attack from three directions. There was an exchange of fire for over two-and-a-half hours,” Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provincial police chief Akhtar Hayat Gandapur told reporters.
No group has claimed responsibility for the attack yet; however, previous attacks in the region were claimed by the TTP and its affiliates. Security concerns in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan have risen as both provinces have witnessed multiple attacks over the past few weeks.
Anwarul Haq Kakar, the Caretaker Prime Minister of Pakistan, condemned the attack, emphasizing that the country’s security forces cannot be demoralized by such incidents. “The cowardly acts of terrorists will, as always, fail to undermine our resolve to maintain law and order,” Kakar said. “The entire nation stands with the police and security forces and salutes the martyrs,” he added.
The attack occurred just three days ahead of the scheduled general elections in the country. Despite the concern regarding security challenges and the potential for increased violence during the election, the country’s election commission, after its meeting with security officials, emphasized that it would proceed with the scheduled date.
Earlier, Pakistan’s Senate passed a non-binding resolution calling for a delay in the elections due to security reasons.
Since the beginning of the election campaign process, at least two election candidates have been killed during their campaigns in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. One of the incidents was claimed by the Islamic State affiliate in the region (IS-KP).
Furthermore, separatist Baloch militants, Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), launched a large-scale coordinated attack during a rally in a town in Balochistan province last week that killed at least 15 people.
Earlier, the U.S. State Department had expressed concern about the violence, which it said could undermine the electoral process. “Pakistani people have the right to choose their leader without fear for the country’s stability and prosperity,” it said in a statement on Wednesday.
Pakistan has been grappling with a surge in terrorist attacks since the takeover of Afghanistan by the Taliban in August 2021. The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), also known as Pakistani Taliban, 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 accuses the Taliban of being responsible for the recent surge in violence and has repeatedly urged the regime in Kabul to take stronger measures to prevent cross-border attacks. Last year, 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.
The Taliban authorities, however, 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.
