PESHAWAR/ BAJAUR/KOHAT/MASTUNG: At least 10 security personnel were martyred and dozens injured in separate terrorist attacks and clashes in Bajaur, Kohat and Mastung, while security forces killed several attackers in retaliatory operations, officials and local sources said on Friday.
In Bajaur, militants attacked a security forces checkpoint late Thursday night, leaving at least eight personnel martyred and 35 others injured after ramming an explosives-laden vehicle into the camp.
Security officials said the attackers first targeted the post with a quadcopter drone before a suicide bomber drove an explosive-filled vehicle into the building, causing a massive blast.
Following the explosion, heavily armed terrorists attempted to storm the checkpoint and opened indiscriminate fire. Security forces responded immediately and killed all the attackers, officials said.
The banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) claimed responsibility for the assault.
Eyewitnesses and local journalists said the explosion was so powerful that it was heard in Bajaur town and areas up to 20 kilometres away. The area was later sealed off, while the injured were shifted to nearby hospitals, with several reported to be in critical condition.
In a separate incident in Kurram district, two security personnel, including a Frontier Corps subedar, were martyred during an exchange of fire with terrorists of “Fitna al-Khawarij”.
Security sources said three terrorists were killed and several others injured during the clash. One terrorist’s body was also recovered from the site.
The martyred personnel were identified as FC Subedar Najeebullah, a resident of Karak city, and Naik Shameem Ali of Lower Orakzai. Security forces later intensified search and clearance operations in the area.
Meanwhile, in Mastung district of Balochistan, armed men attacked three trucks transporting minerals on the Quetta-Taftan highway and set them ablaze. The attackers also blew up a bridge on the national highway using explosive material, suspending traffic on the Pakistan-Iran route. Authorities later restored an alternative route for small vehicles. The assailants managed to flee after the attack. Separately, a police official was martyred in an alleged targeted killing incident in the Matni area of Peshawar.
