Explosives-packed car is rammed into station utilized by military as a base in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and fighters open fireplace.
Armed males stormed a police station in northwestern Pakistan, killing a minimum of 5 folks, officers say, with the variety of casualties anticipated to rise.
The assault passed off on Tuesday within the metropolis of Dera Ismail Khan within the restive province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, positioned on the fringe of the lawless tribal areas bordering Afghanistan, additionally wounded a minimum of 28 folks, mentioned Aizaz Mehmood, an official of the state-run rescue service. “We’re nonetheless listening to gunshots,” he mentioned.
Nevertheless, the Reuters information company reported quoting two safety officers that there have been a minimum of 24 deaths on the police station, being utilized by the Pakistani military as a base camp.
“Lots of them have been killed whereas they have been sleeping and in civilian garments so we’re nonetheless figuring out if they’re all army personnel,” an official was quoted as saying by the AFP information company.
The fighters rammed a car laden with explosives into the principle gate of the police station, following up with a gun assault, in accordance with officers.
Pakistani group Tehreek-e-Jihad Pakistan (TJP), which has emerged just lately, mentioned its fighters carried out the assault aimed on the Pakistani military, in an announcement quoted by Reuters.
Former Pakistan Taliban stronghold
It was not instantly clear if the group in query is linked to the principle armed outlawed group Pakistan Taliban, recognized by the acronym TTP, which has focused the state and its establishments for years.
Dera Ismail Khan is a former stronghold of the TTP, which seeks to overthrow the federal government and substitute it with their harsh model of spiritual legal guidelines.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has witnessed an increase in violence with a number of lethal assaults. In January, a minimum of 101 folks have been killed when a suicide bomber focused a mosque in Peshawar.
Authorities say fighters have turn into emboldened whereas residing overtly in Afghanistan because the Taliban takeover of that nation in 2021.
The TTP, although a separate group, is carefully allied with the Taliban in Afghanistan.