12 soldiers killed after suicide bombing at army outpost

At least 12 soldiers and six Islamist militants have been killed after a suicide bombing in northwestern Pakistan, the country’s military has said.

The attackers crashed a vehicle packed with explosives into the perimeter wall of an army outpost in Bannu, a district in the troubled Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, on Tuesday evening.

Hafiz Gul Bahadur, a breakaway faction of the Pakistani Taliban, claimed responsibility for what was one of the deadliest attacks in recent months, intelligence and security officials said, adding other soldiers were wounded.

The country’s army said in a statement that six militants had been killed as it vowed to bring those behind the ‘heinous act’ to justice.

Officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said security personnel were carrying out an operation targeting those who orchestrated the attack.

The security outpost bombing coincided with a meeting of political and military leaders on how to respond to the surge in militant violence.

Attacks have been increasing in Pakistan since November 2022, when the Pakistani Taliban ended a ceasefire with Islamabad.

The country has been battling a resurgence of militant attacks in its rugged northwest, as well as a growing ethnic separatist insurgency in the southwest.

The Pakistani Taliban, also known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan or TTP, are a separate group but are allies of the Afghanistan Taliban, who seized power in neighbouring Afghanistan in 2021.

The TTP, whose top leaders and fighters are hiding in Afghanistan, have been emboldened by the Taliban takeover.

Last December, a suicide bomber linked to the group killed 23 troops at a police station in another part of the region, Dera Ismail Khan.

On Tuesday, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif approved a “comprehensive military operation” against separatist groups, including the Balochistan Liberation Army, in southwestern Balochistan province.

Earlier this month, the group killed 26 people in a suicide attack at a train station in Quetta, the capital of the province.

Abdullah Khan, from the Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies, said over 900 security personnel have been killed in militant attacks in Pakistan since 2022 when TTP ended the ceasefire with the government.