A car bombing at a police post in northwestern Pakistan, followed by a militant ambush on personnel rushing to the scene, has killed at least 14 officers, police said on Sunday.
Police official Sajjad Khan said the bodies of 14 officers were recovered from the collapsed outpost in the wake of Saturday’s attack. Three other personnel were found alive and rushed to hospital. Images from the site showed the structure reduced to rubble, with bricks, charred wreckage and mangled vehicles scattered around the area. A state of emergency was declared in government hospitals in Bannu.
Militants first rammed the post with an explosive-filled car and then entered the premises, opening fire on remaining officers, a police official who asked not to be named said. “Other law enforcement personnel were sent to help the police, but the terrorists ambushed them and caused some casualties,” he said. Police sources told Reuters that the attackers also used drones during the assault.
A militant alliance known as the Ittehad-ul-Mujahideen claimed responsibility for the attack.
The killings come amid a sustained surge in militant attacks along Pakistan’s border with Afghanistan that has the potential to reignite open fighting between Islamabad and Kabul. The worst confrontation in years erupted in February, with Pakistani airstrikes inside Afghanistan that Islamabad said targeted militant strongholds. Fighting has since eased into occasional skirmishes, but no formal ceasefire has been brokered. Islamabad blames Kabul for harbouring militants who use Afghan soil to plot attacks; the Taliban has denied the allegations and described militancy in Pakistan as an internal problem.
The attack lands as Pakistan continues to host high-level regional diplomacy through the Islamabad track on the wider US-Iran peace process and works on a parallel counter-terrorism programme with Sri Lanka at the Tarbela Special Operations School.
Source: Ada Derana.
