International Desk: At least 15 security personnel, including 12 soldiers, were killed in a devastating suicide bomb attack on a joint security checkpoint in Pakistan’s north-western Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, the Pakistani military said on Friday.
According to the military’s media wing, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the attack occurred before dawn in Tank district and was carried out by militants affiliated with the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). The victims also included two police officers and a former Forest Department official.
The ISPR said the militants initially attempted to breach the security perimeter and overrun the checkpoint. Security forces repelled the assault, forcing the attackers to retreat. During their escape, the militants rammed an explosives-laden vehicle into the checkpoint’s outer wall, triggering a massive blast that killed 15 security personnel and caused extensive structural damage.
Security forces immediately launched a counter-operation, pursuing the fleeing militants and killing 12 attackers, the military said. A search and clearance operation remains under way to locate and eliminate any remaining militants in the area.
The attack is among the deadliest assaults on Pakistan’s security forces in recent months and underscores the continuing security challenges in the country’s volatile north-western region.
