The Pakistani Taliban on Saturday claimed responsibility for deadly attacks in several northwestern districts that killed 20 security officials and three civilians.
The attacks, which included a suicide bombing on a police training school, were carried out on Friday in several districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province that borders Afghanistan.
Militancy has surged in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa since the withdrawal of US-led troops from neighbouring Afghanistan in 2021 and the return of the Taliban government in Kabul.
Eleven paramilitary troops were killed in the border Khyber district, while seven policemen were killed after a suicide bomber rammed an explosives-laden car into the gate of a police training school in Dera Ismail Khan district, which was followed by a gun attack.
“Seven police personnel were martyred and 13 were injured in the attack, while six terrorists were also killed,” Muhammad Hussain, a senior local police official, told AFP.
Five people, including three civilians, were killed in a separate clash between militants and paramilitary troops in Bajaur district, security officials told AFP on Saturday.
The Pakistani Taliban, the Tehreek-e-Taliban (TTP), claimed responsibility for the attacks in messages on social media. The group is separate to but closely linked with the Afghan Taliban.
The attacks came hours after Afghanistan’s Taliban government accused Pakistan of “violating Kabul’s sovereign territory”, a day after two explosions were heard in the capital.
Pakistan did not say if it was behind the blasts in Kabul but said it had the right to defend itself against surging border militancy.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif “strongly condemns” Friday’s attacks, his office said in a statement.
“Such cowardly acts by terrorists cannot shake our resolve against terrorism,” the statement said. “We are determined to completely eliminate terrorism from the country.”
– ‘Enough is enough’ –
Islamabad accuses Afghanistan of failing to expel militants using Afghan territory to launch attacks on Pakistan, an accusation that authorities in Kabul deny.
The TTP and its affiliates are behind most of the violence — largely directed at security forces.
Including Friday’s attacks at least 32 Pakistani troops and three civilians have been killed this week alone in the border regions, while dozens of militants were also killed.
More than 500 people, including 311 troops and 73 policemen, have been killed in attacks since January up to September 15, a military spokesman said on Friday.
Earlier this year, a UN report said the TTP “receive substantial logistical and operational support from the de facto authorities”, referring to the Taliban government in Kabul.
Pakistani Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif told parliament on Thursday that several efforts to convince the Afghan Taliban to stop backing the TTP had failed.
“We will not tolerate this any longer,” Asif said. “United, we must respond to those facilitating them, whether the hideouts are on our soil or Afghan soil.”
He warned that any response could cause collateral damage. “Everyone will have to bear the consequences, including those providing the hideouts,” he said.
“Enough is enough,” he added. “The Pakistani government and army’s patience has run out.”
la-zz/mtp
© Agence France-Presse
