At least 23 people were killed in a
suicide bombing at a Pakistan Army base on Tuesday. The attack was claimed by
militants affiliated with the Pakistani Taliban, said an official.
The early-morning attack targeted a base
in Dera Ismail Khan District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, near the Afghan
border, according to a local official who spoke on condition of anonymity.
“Many of them were killed while they
were sleeping and in civilian clothes so we are still determining if they are
all military personnel,” the official added.
An additional 27 people were wounded
when the explosive-laden suicide vehicle detonated at a school building which
had been commandeered as a makeshift military base, he said.
Three rooms had collapsed and efforts
were underway to pull bodies from the ruins, with fears the toll could rise
further still, he added.
Tehreek-e-Jihad Pakistan – a new group
affiliated with the Pakistan Taliban – said the assault began around 2:30 am
(2130 GMT) with a “martyrdom attack” by one fighter before others stormed the
compound.
Pakistan’s Army has not yet commented on
the incident.
Pakistan has witnessed a dramatic spike
in militant attacks, mainly in its border regions with Afghanistan, since the
Taliban returned to power there in 2021.
Analysts say Islamist fighters have been
emboldened by the neighbouring insurgency’s success following the withdrawal of
US forces in 2021.
The first half of 2023 saw a nearly 80
per cent spike in attacks compared to last year, according to the Pakistan
Institute for Conflict and Security Studies.
Islamabad alleges that hostile groups
operate from “sanctuaries” across the border, a charge the Taliban Government
routinely denies.
The biggest threat to Pakistan is its
domestic chapter of the Taliban known as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP),
which shares lineage and ideology with Kabul’s rulers.
In January, the TTP was linked to a
mosque bombing which killed more than 80 police officers inside a headquarters
in the northwestern city of Peshawar, the capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
province.
Islamabad said four troops were killed
in September during a cross-border raid by “hundreds” of TTP fighters in
Chitral, an area popular with domestic tourists.
AFP
