Separate attacks in northwest Pakistan leave 18 dead

A suicide attack in northwest Pakistan killed 12 soldiers Tuesday, an intelligence source told AFP after a separate clash less than a day earlier left eight dead in the same region bordering Afghanistan.

"A suspected suicide bomber detonated an explosives-laden vehicle near the checkpoint, after which his accomplices opened fire," an intelligence official said of the attack in Bannu on Tuesday.

"As of the latest updates, 10 people have been killed and seven injured in the attack," he said.

The official said that the explosion "caused significant damage" to the Mali Khel checkpoint's structure as well as to military vehicles.

The Hafiz Gul Bahadur armed group claimed responsibility for the attack.

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The bombing occurred less than 24 hours after another attack, also in the northwest Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, according to another official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

That clash on Monday lasted hours and resulted in the deaths of eight soldiers and nine militants in the Tirah area of the province, the officer said.

The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), also known as the Pakistani Taliban, later claimed responsibility for that attack, saying it was in response to a search by security forces targeting one of its fighters.

Near the checkpoint blast in Bannu, seven police officers had been taken hostage on Monday but were released less than a day later.

Their release came after negotiations between a jirga -- or tribal council -- and the captors.

"All the kidnapped policemen have been released following successful negotiations led by local elders with militants," senior police official Muhammad Zia ud-Din told AFP.

He declined to provide further details.

The TTP is separate from the Hafiz Gul Bahadur group, but both have been active in supporting the Afghan Taliban in its war against the US-led NATO coalition since 2001.

The Afghan Taliban reclaimed power in Kabul in 2021, and Pakistan's border areas have seen a resurgence of violence since then.

The TTP claimed an attack in late October that left 10 police officers dead at a checkpost in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

In Pakistan's southwest, seven soldiers were killed at a border post on Saturday by separatist fighters with the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) group. The incident came a week after a bombing by the same group killed 26 people, including 14 soldiers, at a train station in the provincial capital Quetta.

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Comprehensive Military Operation Approved 

Pakistan’s Federal Apex Committee of the National Action Plan approved a comprehensive military operation against terrorist organisations operating in Balochistan, including Majeed Brigade, BLA, BLF, and BRAS, a statement by the PMO said.

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