15 Cops killed in Pakistan suicide attack

Islamabad, May 10 (EFE).- At least 15 cops were killed as militants carried out a suicide bombing and a subsequent attack at a police checkpost in Bannu district of Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province, police said Sunday.

Late Saturday night, militants rammed an explosive-laden vehicle into the Fateh Khel police checkpost in the Bannu district and subsequently launched an attack on it, Bannu police spokesperson Kashif Khan told EFE.

“In the attack, 15 cops have been martyred,” Khan said, adding that the building of the checkpost collapsed following the attack.

«The terrorists first attacked the police post with a vehicle loaded with explosives, then armed men entered the premises and opened fire on the police officers,” the official added.

«When other law enforcement officers went to help, the terrorists ambushed them as well, causing some casualties as well,» the spokesperson said.

Police officers and vans have been attacked in the same area before, according to Khan.

Ittehad-ul-Mujahideen Pakistan (IMP), a newly-formed alliance of three militant groups — Hafiz Gul Bahadur (HGB), Lashkar-e-Islam (LeI), and Harakat Inqilab Islami Pakistan (IIP) — has claimed responsibility for the attack.

The alliance, which was announced in April last year, has claimed several attacks in KP since its formation. It was formed by splinter factions of the Pakistani Taliban, known as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).

Authorities have accused the group of being a front for the TTP.

Pakistan accuses Afghanistan of sheltering militants from the TTP to launch attacks against the country, charges that the interim government of the Afghan Taliban has denied.

Militant attacks have surged in Pakistan since the Taliban took over in Afghanistan in 2021. Relations between the two countries have soured leading to fierce clashes between both sides since February this year. EFE

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