23 dead in suicide attack on army base
A suicide attack on an army base shakes Pakistan. At least 23 people are killed and a group allied with the Taliban claims responsibility. Islamist-motivated attacks are currently on the rise.
According to an official, at least 23 people have been killed in a suicide attack on an army base in Pakistan. The attack took place early on Tuesday morning near the border with Afghanistan, in the Dera Ismail Khan district in the northern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The attack was claimed by Tehreek-e-Jihad Pakistan (TJP), a group that has only recently emerged as an ally of the Pakistani Taliban.
The official added that many of the victims had been killed in their sleep and were wearing civilian clothes. "We are therefore still trying to establish whether they are all military personnel," he continued. The building attacked was a police station used by the Pakistani army as a base camp. Interior Minister Sarfraz Bugti condemned the attack and expressed grief over the casualties, his office said in a statement.
The TJP group said the "martyrdom attack" began at around half past two in the morning local time (11.30pm CET). The Pakistani army initially did not comment on the incident. Two security officials told the Reuters news agency that the attackers had rammed the perimeter wall of the base with trucks and then attacked others with guns.
Since the Taliban took power in neighboring Afghanistan in August 2021, suspected Islamist-motivated attacks and assaults have also risen sharply again in Pakistan. Several attacks by the Pakistani Taliban group Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) have mainly targeted police officers and other security forces in recent months. In January, an assassin with links to the Pakistani Taliban blew himself up in a mosque at a police station in the north-western city of Peshawar, killing more than 80 police officers.
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The group responsible for the army base attack, Tehreek-e-Jihad Pakistan (TJP), is an ally of the Pakistani Taliban, which has been increasing its activities following the Taliban's takeover in Afghanistan. Moreover, the TJP claimed responsibility for the deadly suicide bombings that resulted in at least 23 fatalities in Pakistan.
Source: www.ntv.de
