Attack Kills 23 Troops in Pakistan Weeks Before Polls

Ismail Dilawar
·2 min read
3

(Bloomberg) -- A suicide bomb attack on a security facility in Pakistan’s northwest region killed 23 soldiers, the police and military said, raising security concerns weeks before the national elections.

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The bomber early Tuesday morning smashed an explosive-laden vehicle into the installation in Dera Ismail Khan where police officials and troops were living, Anisul Hassan, deputy superintendent of police, said by phone. The attack wounded 25 people, he said.

Tehreek-e-Jihad Pakistan, an affiliate of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, claimed responsibility for the attack, according to a statement by the militant group on WhatsApp.

Pakistan’s foreign ministry said, in a statement, that it lodged a “strong demarche” with the top diplomat of Afghanistan’s Taliban regime demanding it investigate the attack and take “immediate verifiable actions against all terrorist groups.” Islamabad has blamed a spike in terrorist attacks in Pakistan on the Taliban’s alleged support for its close ally, the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan.

Terrorist incidents increased 37% to 862 in 2023 compared with the previous year, according to the South Asia Terrorism Portal.

Pakistan has said most of those attacks were carried out by Afghan nationals and is in the process of trying to deport over a million Afghan refugees it says are in Pakistan illegally.

The increasing terrorist attacks in the South Asian country are raising serious concerns about security before polls scheduled on Feb. 8. A number of politicians including former President Asif Ali Zardari, who is bidding to bring his Pakistan Peoples Party into power for a fifth time, have publicly said they want improved security as they are unable to hold public rallies and meetings.

--With assistance from Kamran Haider.

(Updates with comments from Pakistan’s foreign ministry)

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