At least 23 people were killed Tuesday in a suicide bomb attack on a military building in northwest Pakistan, claimed by a group affiliated with the Pakistani Taliban, said an official who asked not to be identified.
“Many died in their sleep and in civilian clothes, so we are still trying to determine if they were all military,” the official told the France-Presse (AFP) news agency, adding that at least 27 people were injured.
Tehreek-e-Jihad Pakistan (TJP), a new group affiliated with the Pakistani Taliban Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), claimed responsibility for the attack. The Pakistani military has not yet reacted to the attack.
Pakistan has been facing deteriorating security for several months, especially since the return to power of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan in August 2021.
Islamabad believes that some of these attacks are planned from Afghan soil, which Kabul has denied.
The TTP has intensified attacks, mainly targeting security forces, particularly the police, after abandoning a fragile ceasefire in November 2022.
The TTP, which is distinct from the Afghan Taliban but shares an Islamic fundamentalist ideology, emerged in Pakistan in 2007.
In less than a decade, it killed tens of thousands of civilians and members of the Pakistani security forces before being expelled from tribal areas through a military operation launched in 2014, which improved security for some years.
Source: TSF
