An official disclosed that a suicide bombing at a Pakistan army base on Tuesday claimed the lives of no fewer than 23 people, with the attack attributed to militants linked to the Pakistani Taliban.
A base in the Dera Ismail Khan district of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, situated near the Afghan border, was the specific target of an early-morning attack, according to an anonymous local official.
‘Many of them were killed while they were sleeping and in civilian clothes so we are still determining if they are all military personnel,’ the official added.
An additional 27 people were wounded when the explosive-laden suicide vehicle detonated at a school building which had been commandeered as a makeshift military base, he said.
Efforts were underway to extract bodies from the ruins after three rooms collapsed, raising concerns that the toll could potentially rise even more, as stated by him.
Tehreek-e-Jihad Pakistan, a new group associated with the Pakistan Taliban, stated that the assault kicked off at 2:30 am (2130 GMT) with a “martyrdom attack” by one fighter, after which others stormed the compound.
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The incident has yet to receive a comment from Pakistan’s army.
A surge in militant attacks, predominantly in Pakistan’s border regions with Afghanistan, has been witnessed since the Taliban regained power in 2021.
Analysts point out that the withdrawal of US forces in 2021 has emboldened Islamist fighters, who draw confidence from the success of the neighboring insurgency.
The first half of 2023 saw a nearly 80 percent spike in attacks compared to last year, according to the Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies.
“Sanctuaries” across the border are alleged to harbor hostile groups, as claimed by Islamabad, a charge the Taliban government routinely refutes.
Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), the domestic chapter of the Taliban, poses the greatest threat to Pakistan, sharing lineage and ideology with Kabul’s rulers.
The TTP was tied to a mosque bombing in January, resulting in the loss of over 80 police officers within a headquarters in Peshawar, the capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
In September, Islamabad confirmed the death of four troops in a cross-border raid by “hundreds” of TTP fighters in Chitral, a region known for its popularity among domestic tourists.