Militant attack on security post in northwestern Pakistan kills 3 soldiers, injures 18

At least three paramilitary soldiers were killed and 18 others wounded when militants attacked a Frontier Corps (FC) post in Hangu district of northwestern Pakistan, officials said on Monday.

Security forces returned fire, killing five assailants, including a facilitator, according to local authorities.

District Police Officer Muhammad Khalid Khan said fighters affiliated with the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) stormed the FC post in Doaba, a town in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, using heavy weapons.

“Three security personnel were martyred while 18 others sustained injuries and were shifted to the Combined Military Hospital,” Khan said.

He added that while security forces killed five militants in the exchange, the attackers managed to remove some of their dead under the cover of darkness.

The firefight began around 3 a.m. and continued into the morning before the militants fled, according to the police official. A search-and-strike operation has since been launched to track down the remaining attackers, and security has been tightened across the district.

Hospital officials identified the fallen soldiers as Abdul Ghafar, Sadiq Hussain and Kashif. The injured were named as Zahid, Sajid, Babar, Haider, Farooq, Maqsood, Muzamil, Qaiser, Wajid, Usman, Rafiullah, Hanif, Abdullah, Amirullah, Aziz, Bilal, Sajid Ali and Zewar.

The TTP, a militant group that has waged an insurgency against the Pakistani state for years, later claimed responsibility for the assault.

Security sources said the Doaba area of Hangu, which borders the Kurram and Upper Orakzai districts, has recently seen activity from the TTP’s Kazim faction.

The group appears to have shifted its operations into Kurram and Orakzai amid signs of an upcoming large-scale offensive in the Tirah valley, the sources added.