D.I. KHAN/ISLAMABAD: At least 10 Pakistani frontier police officers were martyred in a militant attack on an outpost near Dera Ismail Khan in northwestern Pakistan, according to police sources.
The attack, which took place on Thursday, was claimed by Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). This incident comes amid a resurgence of militant activity in Pakistan’s northwest and a rising ethnic separatist insurgency in the southern regions.
Three senior police officials, speaking on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the issue, confirmed that a large group of militants stormed the outpost, killing members of the frontier constabulary.
Ali Amin Khan Gandapur, chief minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, confirmed the attack in a statement on Friday condemning the violence, though he did not specify the number of fatalities.
In a statement, the TTP claimed the attack was in retaliation for the recent killing of a senior leader, Ustad Qureshi. Qureshi was one of nine individuals, including two suicide bombers, killed in an intelligence-based operation in Bajaur, a district near the Afghan border, according to the Pakistani military.
The TTP is distinct from the Afghan Taliban, who assumed power in Afghanistan following the U.S.-led withdrawal in 2021.
Pakistan claims that the TTP operates from Afghan territory and accuses the Taliban government of providing safe havens to the group near the border, though the Taliban deny these allegations.
