Pakistan: 12 soldiers killed in TTP ambush in South Waziristan, army says

At least 12 Pakistani soldiers were killed when militants ambushed a military convoy in northwestern Pakistan early Saturday, the army said.

The convoy was attacked in South Waziristan district around 4:00 am, when “armed men opened fire from both sides with heavy weapons,” a local official told AFP. Four other soldiers were injured, while the assailants seized weapons from the convoy.

The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) claimed responsibility on social media. The group, also known as the Pakistani Taliban, has carried out frequent assaults in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, where it once held large swathes of territory before a 2014 military operation forced its retreat.

According to the military’s media wing, 35 TTP fighters were killed in two separate operations from September 10–13. In Bajaur, 22 militants were killed, while in South Waziristan another clash left 12 soldiers and 13 militants dead. Both encounters involved the “Fitna al Khwarij,” the statement said, using the military’s term for the TTP.

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The attack is among the deadliest in recent months and comes amid a sharp rise in militant violence since the Afghan Taliban seized power in Kabul in 2021. Pakistan accuses Afghanistan of harbouring TTP fighters who use its territory to launch cross-border attacks, a charge the Taliban government denies.