A suicide bomber detonated his explosive-laden vehicle at the main gate of a police station in north-west Pakistan early on Tuesday, killing at least 23 troops and wounding 32 others, and causing part of the building to collapse, the military and officials said.
The suicide attack – one of the deadliest attacks since January – resulted in “multiple casualties” Pakistan’s army said in a statement.
It added that six militants also opened fire and the ensuing shootout between them and security forces lasted for hours before “the terrorists” were gunned down.
Local police officials also confirmed all six attackers were dead.
Separately, the statement said “troops killed 27 insurgents” in multiple operations in the same region.
The death toll from Tuesday’s attack is likely to rise as some of the injured officers are in a critical condition, authorities said.
The bodies of the 23 security forces killed were transferred to a hospital, senior police official Mohammad Adnan said.
The attack targeted the Daraban police station in Dera Ismail Khan, a city in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province bordering Afghanistan, local police officer Kamal Khan said.
The province is a former stronghold of the militant Pakistani Taliban group, also known as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP.
The newly formed militant group Tehreek-e-Jihad Pakistan, or TJP – believed to be an offshoot of the TTP – claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement, saying it targeted the officers who were at the police station.
The statement also claimed that 20 officers were killed. However, this could not be independently verified.
A larger number of security forces from across the country have recently had a constant presence at the Daraban police station where they have been carrying out intelligence-based operations against militants in the area with help from local police, said Mr Khan
Pakistan President Arif Alvi denounced the attack and conveyed his condolences to the families of those who were “martyred”.
In a statement, he said “their sacrifices would not go to waste” and that such attacks cannot weaken the resolve of security forces.
Pakistan’s caretaker Interior Minister Sarfraz Bugti also denounced the onslaught in a statement, calling it an act of “terrorism”.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has witnessed a rise in violence with several deadly incursions by militants this year.
In January, at least 101 people were killed, mostly police officers, when a suicide bomber disguised as a policeman attacked a mosque in the north-western city of Peshawar.
The Pakistani Taliban have stepped up attacks on security forces since 2022. Authorities say the insurgents have become emboldened while living openly in Afghanistan since the Taliban takeover of that country in 2021.
The TTP, though a separate group, is closely allied with the Afghan Taliban.
Dera Ismail Khan is located near South Waziristan, a former sanctuary for militants.
Pakistan’s army carried out multiple operations against militants there after some attacked an army-run school, killing more than 150 people, mostly schoolchildren, in 2014.
