Two suicide bombers attacked a sprawling compound housing a police station and government offices in northwest Pakistan on Thursday, killing at least two police officers and wounding 15 other people, police and rescue officials said.
The attack occurred in the Bara neighborhood in northwest Pakistan bordering Afghanistan, provincial police chief Akhtar Hayat said. Rescuers said part of the compound collapsed after the bombing, burying a police officer whose body was later retrieved.
The explosive vest on one of the suicide bombers detonated when police opened fire after coming under attack, Hayat said.
SUICIDE BOMBER ATTACKS TRUCK CARRYING PAKISTANI SECURITY FORCES, AT LEAST 8 WOUNDED
Gunshots were heard after the bombing, said Bilal Faizi, a spokesman for the provincial emergency service, and an exchange of gunfire followed. The wounded people included police officers and civilians, officials said.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif condemned the attack. In a statement, he praised the police officers, saying they “thwarted the evil intentions of the terrorists by stopping the suspects and risking their lives.”
The Pakistani Taliban in a statement claimed responsibility for the attack.
The latest attack came hours after Pakistani Taliban shot and killed two police officers and wounded two others in an overnight gun attack at a roadside checkpoint in the city of Peshawar.
The gun attack took place in the Regi Model Town neighborhood, area police chief Arshad Khan said. A search operation was launched to find and apprehend the attackers, who fled the scene in the darkness, he said.
The outlawed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan group, or TTP, claimed responsibility for the attack on police in Peshawar in a statement.
PAKISTAN, IRAN TO WORK TOGETHER TO STOP MILITANT BORDER ATTACKS
The two attacks came two days after a suicide car bomber wounded six soldiers and two civilians by targeting a truck carrying security forces in Peshawar, the capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
The Pakistani Taliban are a separate group but an ally of the Afghan Taliban. They have become emboldened since the Taliban seized power in Afghanistan in August 2021 as U.S. and NATO troops were in the final stages of their pullout from the country after 20 years of war.
The Pakistani Taliban have been demanding stricter enforcement of Islamic laws in Pakistan, the release of their members from government custody and a reduced military presence in Pakistan’s former tribal regions. Pakistan’s military last week warned the Afghan Taliban of an “effective response” by government forces if they fail to stop harboring militants who plot cross-border attacks from Afghanistan.
The army chief, Gen. Asim Munir, issued a stern warning last Friday after two militant attacks killed 12 Pakistani soldiers in the country’s southwestern Baluchistan province, which also borders Afghanistan.
