Islamabad: In the northwest Dera Ismail Khan district, near the Pakistan-Afghan border, a vehicle carrying explosives crashed into a military base, killing at least 23 Pakistani soldiers and injuring many more. TTP (Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan), a coalition of multiple regional militant groups, and Tehreek-e-Jihad, a militant organisation connected to the Pakistani Taliban, have both claimed responsibility for the attack.
The obvious and well-planned terrorist attack happened while Pakistani political analysts were raising concerns about the country's upcoming elections, which are scheduled for February 8 amid an upsurge in militant attacks in the northwest province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the southwest province of Balochistan. Pakistan Army Chief General Asim Munir is currently on his first official visit to the US.
A statement by the army claimed all six attackers were killed and confirmed that an explosives-laden truck was used in the attack on the military post in Draban region of Dera Ismail Khan.
Ahead of ramming the explosives-packed truck, Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR), the Pakistan army’s media branch, said that several militants attempted to enter the compound but failed. The attackers then smashed a truck filled with explosives into the gate of a school building, used by the military as its base camp, and this was followed by a suicide bomb attack. “The resulting blasts led to the collapse of the building, causing multiple casualties; 23 brave soldiers were martyred, while all six terrorists were effectively engaged and sent to hell,” the ISPR said. Images from the site showed collapsed rooms and verandas of a school building, several badly charred bodies said to be of the attackers, and their belts of explosives.