At least eight soldiers and a civilian was killed in two separate attacks along Pakistan’s western border with Afghanistan, where violence has surged in recent months, police said on Saturday.
A security operation in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s northwest turned deadly when militants hiding in a house opened fire on security forces, killing seven soldiers, a police source told AFP. The army deployed combat helicopters during the hours-long battle, which resulted in the deaths of eight Taliban fighters. Six soldiers were also wounded in the clash.
Further south in Balochistan, a bomb blast targeting a military vehicle in Gwadar district killed a soldier and a civilian, police officer Mohsin Ali told AFP. The explosive device, planted on a motorbike, also injured three soldiers and a civilian. The attack occurred in a region that saw a major assault last month when militants took train passengers hostage and killed dozens of off-duty soldiers.
Pakistan has witnessed a sharp rise in militant violence this year, particularly in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan. More than 190 people, mostly security personnel, have been killed in attacks since January, according to an AFP tally.
The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) had announced a “spring campaign” against security forces in mid-March. Last year was the deadliest in nearly a decade, with over 1,600 people killed in militant attacks, almost half of them security forces personnel, according to the Islamabad-based Center for Research and Security Studies.
