Islamabad, Aug 31 (EFE).- A suicide attack on a military convoy in the northern Pakistani province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Thursday night killed at least nine soldiers and wounded five others.
So far, the total number of wounded in the area has reached 20.
A suicide bomber on a motorcycle blew himself up in a military convoy in the Jani Khel area of Bannu district, according to the Pakistani army.
Jani Khel police chief told EFE, “According to initial reports, Hafiz Gul Bahadur group claimed responsibility for the attack”.
The group is an active wing of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, the main branch of the Taliban in Pakistan.
The province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, located in the northwestern belt of the country that borders Afghanistan, was a stronghold of the Pakistani Taliban for years until the authorities launched a fierce military offensive in 2014.
Although the army claims the area has been cleared of insurgents, attacks on security checkpoints and shootings have increased in recent years, especially since their ideological brethren took control of Kabul in 2021.
The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan group is an umbrella organization for a number of Pakistani armed groups that are allied with the Afghan Taliban.
After months of unsuccessful peace negotiations with the government, it announced the resumption of its armed activities in November 2022.
According to a report released in early July by the Pakistan Institute for Security and Conflict Studies, there were 271 militant attacks in Pakistan in the first half of 2023 that killed 389 people and injured 656 others.
This represents a significant increase compared to the same period in 2022, when Pakistan suffered 151 attacks that left 293 killed and 487 wounded. EFE
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