Conflicts & War

Several soldiers killed as militants stormed Pakistan military base

Islamabad, Dec 12 (EFE).- Several Pakistani soldiers were killed and injured after militants stormed a makeshift military base set up in a school building in northwest Pakistan on Tuesday, police said.

Local police officer Qamar Khan told EFE that the pre-dawn attack took place in Dera Ismail Khan district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

Khan said at least four soldiers were killed and over 20 injured in the attack.

The police officer said the military had set up a base in a school adjacent to a police station.

A hitherto unknown militant group, Tahreek-e-Jihad Pakistan (TJP), claimed responsibility for the suicide attack.

In a statement posted on their Telegram channel, the militant group claimed that 15 soldiers were killed or injured in the attack.

The Islamist group has emerged recently, but it is not clear if it has any links with Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, the main insurgent outfit fighting Pakistani security forces for the establishment of sharia.

The Pakistani Taliban intensified their militant activities after the Afghan Taliban seized power in neighboring Afghanistan in 2021.

Security analysts say the comeback of the Afghan Taliban has emboldened the TTP to carry out attacks in Pakistan at a time when the Afghan Taliban are not taking any action against them.

Pakistan has witnessed a surge in militancy-related incidents following the fall of Kabul to the Afghan Taliban.

The situation has deteriorated further since December last year, when the Pakistani Taliban announced the end of a ceasefire reached a month earlier with the government in Islamabad, accusing it of failing to uphold its commitments in peace negotiations.

January was the deadliest month in terms of insurgency since July 2018, with at least 134 dead and 254 injured in 44 attacks, according to Pakistan’s Institute of Conflict and Security Studies (PICSS). EFE

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