16 soldiers killed in overnight attack in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan Taliban claim responsibility

The Pakistani military on Saturday said that 16 of its soldiers died and five others were left seriously wounded after terrorists attacked an army outpost in an overnight raid. The Pakistan Taliban has claimed responsibility for the attack.

Pakistan has been battling a resurgence of militant violence in its western border regions since the Taliban’s 2021 return to power in Afghanistan.

Islamabad accuses Kabul’s rulers of failing to root out militants staging attacks on Pakistan from over the border.

How did the attack take place?

The attack took place in the Makeen area of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province where about 30 terrorists raided an army outpost in the middle of the night. Two intelligence officers told AFP that the attack lasted for two hours.

“Sixteen soldiers were martyred and five were critically injured in the assault,” he said. “The militants set fire to the wireless communication equipment, documents and other items present at the checkpoint.”

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Why did Taliban attack the outpost?

The Pakistani Taliban – known as Tehreek–e–Taliban Pakistan (TTP) – said that the attack was in retaliation “for the martyrdom of our senior commanders”.

The group also claimed to have seized a hoard of military gear including machine guns and a night vision device.

The TTP shares its ideology with that of their Afghan counterparts who surged back to power three years ago.

How is Pak battling the militant crisis?

While Islamabad has pinned the blame on Afghanistan, Kabul has pledged to evict foreign militant groups from Afghan soil.

But a UN Security Council report in July estimated up to 6,500 TTP fighters are based there – and said “the Taliban do not conceive of TTP as a terrorist group”.

The report said the Afghan Taliban show “ad hoc support to, and tolerance of, TTP operations, including the supplying of weapons and permission for training”.

The spike in attacks has soured Islamabad-Kabul relations. Security was cited as one reason for Pakistan’s campaign last year to evict hundreds of thousands of undocumented Afghan migrants.

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With inputs from AFP