At least 16 Pakistani troops died and more than two dozen others, including civilians, were injured when a suicide bomber rammed his explosive-filled vehicle into a military convoy in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s restive North Waziristan region.
A suicide bomber drove an explosives-filled vehicle into a convoy of soldiers,” a local government official from the area confirmed. The deadly explosion also damaged nearby structures, with a police officer reporting to AFP, “The blast also made the roof of two houses collapse, wounding six children.” An administration official also said four of the injured soldiers are in critical condition.
The Hafiz Gul Bahadur faction’s suicide wing, which is associated with the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), has taken responsibility for the fatal attack. The assault indicates an increasing trend of militant attacks throughout Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Just this March, the TTP announced a “spring campaign” explicitly targeting security forces, warning of “ambushes, targeted attacks, suicide attacks and strikes.” Since then, the group has claimed responsibility for around 100 incidents in the province.
According to an AFP tally, nearly 290 people, predominantly security personnel, have been killed in attacks carried out by armed outfits opposing the government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan so far this year.
Pakistan experienced a significant surge in such attacks since the Taliban seized power in Afghanistan in August 2021. Islamabad blames the Taliban regime in Kabul for not cracking down against militants who seek shelter in Afghanistan to plan attacks on Pakistan. The Taliban regime denies these claims and retaliate by blaming Pakistan for harboring “terrorist” networks on its soil, in particular the local Islamic State affiliate IS-K.
A year ago was especially lethal in Pakistan, with more than 1,600 people killed in attacks — with almost half of them being security personnel — and was the deadliest year in nearly a decade, according to statistics compiled by the Islamabad-based Center for Research and Security Studies.
