At least six terrorists were killed as security forces staved off a massive suicide attack on a garrison in the volatile southern district of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa on Tuesday evening, security sources said amid reports of multiple civilian casualties in the brazen assault.
The attack on Bannu Cantonment, which involved over a dozen terrorists, comes days after a suicide bomber killed six people, including Maulana Hamidul Haq, the chief of Jamait Ulema-e-Islam (Samiul Haq Group), at Darul Uloom Haqqania in Akora Khattak.
Security sources said that heavily armed khawarij made an abortive attempt to storm their way into Bannu Cantt. However, they panicked outside the garrison due to the timely action of security forces, the sources added. "In a state of panic, the khawarij crashed two explosive-laden vehicles into the walls of Bannu Cantt."
The term khawarij is used by the security forces for the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), an outlawed umbrella of terrorist groups responsible for much of violence in the country. The TTP was routed from the erstwhile tribal areas as a result of a successful military operation, codenamed Zarb-e-Azb, in 2014. The group has since found sanctuaries in Afghanistan.
The blasts caused by explosive-laden vehicles at Kohati Gate tore down the roof of a mosque and damaged several houses in the nearby Kot Barah area, causing multiple civilian casualties, according to officials. Several worshippers were trapped under the rubble of the mosque.
"The death toll now stands at twelve, including five children and two women, while at least 16 others were injured," a senior police official told Reuters news agency on condition of anonymity. "The blasts created two four-foot craters, and due to their intensity, at least eight houses in the locality have been damaged," the police official added.
According to Muhammad Nauman, a spokesperson for the Medical Teaching Institution Bannu, five bodies were received at two state-run hospitals in the district including three children and two women. He added that a state of emergency has been declared in the city's hospitals.
Security sources said that six khawarij were neutralised by the security personnel at various entry points, and the remaining terrorists have been trapped. "The clearance operation will continue until all the khawarij are eliminated," they added.
The targeting of innocent civilians and mosque at Iftar time during the holy month of Ramazan shows that khawarij have nothing to do with Islam, according to security sources.
The brazen attack has been claimed by an affiliate of the banned Hafiz Gul Bahadur terrorist group, which enjoys sanctuaries across the border in Afghanistan. The group carried out a similar deadly attack on the same garrison last July, detonating an explosive-laden vehicle against the boundary wall.
President Asif Ali Zardari condemned the terrorist attack and praised the security forces for "sending the attackers to hell," his office said in a statement. "Such an attack during Iftar in the holy month of Ramazan is a heinous act," he said, adding that the entire nation rejects such nefarious actions.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif also commended the security forces for "sending the terrorists to hell" who attempted to attack the Bannu Cantt. "The cowardly terrorists who targeted innocent civilians during the holy month of Ramazan do not deserve any mercy," the prime minister was quoted as saying by his office in a statement.
Terrorist attacks have spiked in Pakistan since the Taliban returned to power in Afghanistan in August 2021. Last year was the deadliest in a decade, with a surge in attacks that killed more than 1,600 people, according to Islamabad-based analysis group the Center for Research and Security Studies.
Islamabad has repeatedly exhorted Kabul's Taliban rulers to root out the TTP and its affiliates who are sheltering on Afghan soil, but the Taliban remain reluctant. A United Nations report revealed last month that the Afghan Taliban's continued support for the TTP was fuelling the group's escalating attacks in Pakistan.
The revelation was made in the 35th report of the Analytical Support and Sanctions Monitoring Team submitted to the UN Security Council, which covers the period from July 1 to Dec 13, 2024. "The status and strength of TTP in Afghanistan had not changed," while the group intensified its assaults on Pakistan, conducting over 600 attacks during the reporting period, many launched from Afghan territory, the report states.
It underscored that the Taliban continued to provide the TTP with logistical and operational space and financial support, bolstering the group's capacity to sustain its activities. The report revealed that the family of TTP chief receives around $43,000 per month from the Afghan Taliban.
(With additional input from News Desk and Agencies)
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