At the least 23 troops had been killed and 34 others injured in a gun and suicide bomb assault in a police station in Dera Ismail Khan, northwest Pakistan, on Tuesday. A brand new Pakistani Islamist militant group referred to as Tehreek-e-Jihad Pakistan (TJP) claimed duty.
In a press launch, the Pakistani army mentioned that the assault within the restive Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province was carried out by six militants utilizing an “explosive-laden” car.
The army and native police additionally advised the Related Press {that a} shootout lasted for hours earlier than the six militants had been gunned down. Individually, a army assertion mentioned that “troops killed 27 insurgents” in a number of operations within the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa area.
“Sanitization operations are being carried out to eradicate every other terrorist current within the space, as safety forces of Pakistan are decided to wipe out the menace of terrorism from the nation and such sacrifices of our courageous troopers additional strengthens our resolve,” the Pakistani army mentioned.
The dying toll from the gun and suicide bomb is predicted to climb as a number of the officers stay in essential situation, the Related Press reported.
TJP is a comparatively new armed group—established in February 2023—that has been concerned in a number of assaults in opposition to Pakistani safety and army personnel this yr. That features one in July that killed 12 Pakistani troopers within the southwestern Balochistan province.
The group has claimed affiliation with the Pakistani Taliban, also called Tehreek-e-Taliban, or TTP.
Pakistan has undergone a interval of instability this yr as its authorities faces a extreme financial disaster and political unrest. The previous Prime Minister of the nation, Imran Khan, was pressured out of workplace after a vote of no-confidence in April 2022. The present caretaker Prime Minister of the nation is Anwar ul Haq Kakar.
The Pakistani Taliban have stepped up assaults on safety forces within the nation since 2022. Pakistani authorities say TTP has turn out to be emboldened because the Taliban takeover of neighboring Afghanistan in 2021.