The Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for deadly attacks in several areas of northwestern Pakistan on Saturday, killing 20 security officers and three civilians.
The attacks, which also included a suicide bombing at a police training school, were carried out on Friday in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, bordering Afghanistan.
The province is home to several armed groups, which have stepped up attacks on security forces since the withdrawal of the Taliban in neighboring Afghanistan in 2021.
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Eleven paramilitary soldiers were killed in an attack in the border Khyber district, AFP news agency reported.
A suicide bomber drove an explosives-packed car into the gate of a police training school on Friday night, killing seven policemen and wounding 13, a senior local police official in Khyber told AFP.
The facility is located at Ratta Kulachi on the outskirts of Dera Ismail Khan city.
Police said the attackers used heavy weapons and tried to force their way into the compound after the suicide bombing.
“After the initial blast, the attackers managed to storm the facility, where about 200 recruits and their trainers were held,” Dera Ismail Khan police chief Sajjad Ahmed told The Associated Press.
Officials said the attack was followed by a fierce gunbattle that lasted for about six hours.
Police and paramilitary forces later cleared the compound, killing six terrorists and recovering suicide vests, explosives, arms and ammunition, the statement said.
Meanwhile, security officials said five people, including three civilians, were killed in a separate clash between militants and paramilitary forces in Bajaur district.
Tehreek-e-Taliban is behind most of the attacks in the northwest
The Pakistani Taliban, Tehreek-e-Taliban (TTP), claimed responsibility for the attacks in messages on social media.
The TTP is separate from the Afghan Taliban but is closely linked to it and, along with its allies, the group is responsible for most of the violence in the province.
The TTP said it was also behind the ambush on a Pakistani military convoy near the Afghan border on Wednesday, in which nine soldiers and two officers were killed.
Terrorism has increased in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa following the withdrawal of US-led troops from neighboring Afghanistan in 2021 and the return of the Taliban government to Kabul.
Pakistan has repeatedly accused Kabul of supporting the TTP and accused the Taliban of failing to drive out militants who use Afghan territory to carry out attacks on its neighbour.
“We will not tolerate this any longer,” Pakistan Defense Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif said in parliament on Thursday. “United, we must hold those who facilitate them to account, whether the bases are on our soil or on Afghan soil.”
A UN report this year, referring to the Taliban government, said the TTP “receives substantial logistical and operational support from the de facto authorities”.
Kabul has denied supporting terrorists
The Taliban have denied the allegations and Kabul accused Pakistan of violating Afghan “sovereign territory” on Friday, a day after two explosions were heard in the capital.
Pakistan has not confirmed whether it was behind the Kabul blasts, but it has the right to defend itself against the growing insurgency on the border.
On Friday, Pakistan Army’s chief spokesman, Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry, admitted that “terrorism has increased since 2021,” adding that thousands of counter-terrorism operations were conducted to neutralize the growing terrorist threat.
By mid-September, security forces had conducted more than 10,000 operations, killing 970 militants, while 311 soldiers and 73 police officers were killed, Chaudhary said.
Edited by Shawn Sinico