At least 23 killed in suicide bombing attack at Pakistan army base: Report

• Image Credit: Google

• Dec 12, 2023 | Dhupali Das

The assailants, affiliated with the Pakistani Taliban, claimed responsibility for the assault...

Digital Desk: In a devastating attack on Tuesday, at least 23 people lost their lives in a suicide bombing targeting a Pakistan army base in the Dera Ismail Khan district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. The assailants, affiliated with the Pakistani Taliban, claimed responsibility for the assault.

The attack occurred in the early hours of the morning at a military base near the Afghan border. A local official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, revealed that many victims were killed in their sleep and in civilian clothes, complicating the identification process to confirm whether they were all military personnel.

The suicide vehicle, laden with explosives, detonated at a school building repurposed as a makeshift military base, resulting in the collapse of three rooms. Rescue efforts are ongoing, with fears that the death toll could rise as bodies are recovered from the wreckage. An additional 27 individuals were wounded in the attack.

Tehreek-e-Jihad Pakistan, a newly emerging group linked to the Pakistani Taliban, claimed that the assault began with a "martyrdom attack" by one fighter around 2:30 am, followed by the storming of the compound by other militants.

As of now, the Pakistani army has not officially commented on the incident.

Pakistan has experienced a surge in militant attacks, particularly in border regions with Afghanistan, since the Taliban regained control in 2021. Analysts attribute the increase in attacks to the emboldening of Islamist fighters following the withdrawal of US forces in 2021.

The Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies reported a nearly 80% spike in attacks during the first half of 2023 compared to the previous year. The government in Islamabad accuses hostile groups of operating from sanctuaries across the Afghan border, a charge consistently denied by the Taliban government.

The primary domestic threat to Pakistan remains the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), which shares lineage and ideology with the Taliban in Kabul. In January, the TTP was linked to a mosque bombing that claimed the lives of over 80 police officers in Peshawar. Additionally, a cross-border raid in September resulted in the deaths of four troops during an attack by hundreds of TTP fighters in the Chitral region, a popular area for domestic tourists.