By At least 12 Pakistani soldiers died when militants launched a combined gun and suicide bomb assault on a military outpost in the country’s volatile northwest region near the Afghan border, military officials said Wednesday.
The overnight attack in Bannu district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province began with militants attempting to breach the facility’s defenses. Security forces killed six attackers in the initial gunfight, but a suicide bomber then detonated an explosive-laden vehicle, causing partial collapse of the perimeter wall and significant infrastructure damage.
The military attributed the attack to “Khwarij,” its designation for militants associated with Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), while Hafiz Gul Bahadur, a TTP-affiliated group, claimed responsibility. Local security sources confirmed six additional soldiers were wounded, with two in critical condition.
The assault marks another deadly incident in Pakistan’s escalating battle against militant violence. The Islamabad-based Center for Research and Security Studies reports more than 1,100 Pakistanis, many from security forces, have died in militant attacks this year.
Pakistan consistently accuses the Taliban government in Afghanistan of harboring TTP, which the United Nations designates as a global terrorist organization, in cross-border sanctuaries. Taliban authorities reject these allegations, maintaining no foreign militant groups operate from Afghan territory.
The violence surge prompted Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Tuesday to approve a new military offensive against separatist forces in southwestern Balochistan province, where ethnic militants regularly target security forces and Chinese-funded development projects. The government has not specified when this operation will commence.
“Sanitization operation is being conducted in the area, and the perpetrators of this heinous act will be brought to justice,” the military statement said regarding the Bannu attack.
