Pakistani security forces on Thursday stopped a suicide bombing attempt at a checkpoint near Jandola Fort in Tank District, southern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
The suicide bomber reportedly detonated explosives at the southern gate, injuring two security personnel. After the explosion, the forces responded with heavy gunfire, killing several militants.
The attackers opened fire following the blast, with sources confirming that the incident was a suicide bombing, Express Tribune reported.
Meanwhile, Pakistan’s Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi confirmed that 10 terrorists were killed during the gunfire.
I salute the security forces for foiling the attack," Naqvi said, commending them for bringing the 10 terrorists to an “exemplary end."
“The nation is proud of the professional capabilities of the security forces and stands by them," he added.
The identification process for the terrorists is still underway and has yet to be revealed. However, according to sources from the Kabul Frontline, the suicide attack was carried out by Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), a militant group formed in 2007 to strengthen forces against the Pakistani military.
TTP’s main objectives are to expel Islamabad’s influence in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas and neighbouring Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province.
This attack comes just a day after Pakistani security forces successfully killed all 33 militants who had hijacked the Jaffar Express train in Balochistan’s Bolan district. The militants had held passengers hostage in a mountainous region.
Pakistani officials had said they freed more than 340 train passengers in a two-day rescue operation that ended late on Wednesday. The operation followed an attack by the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), which bombed a railway track in southwest Balochistan and stormed the train, carrying around 450 passengers.
The BLA is one of several separatist groups that accuse outsiders of plundering natural resources in Balochistan, near the borders with Afghanistan and Iran.
Source: News18
