Islamabad, Mar 5: Two suicide bombers detonated explosives to breach a wall at a military base in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Tuesday evening, allowing other attackers to storm the compound. At least nine people were killed and 35 injured as security forces clashed with the attackers, as per a report by the Associated Press.The terrorists targeted the security barrier at Bannu Cantonment in the restive province just after Iftar during the ongoing month of Ramadan.
According to sources, the terrorist group Jaish ul Fursan, which recently joined hands with Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), is believed to have carried out the attack.
Four of those killed were children, hospital officials said. The victims lived close to the scene of the blasts.
A spokesman for Bannu District Hospital, Muhammad Noman, said that the evening blasts badly damaged homes and other buildings. “The roofs and walls collapsed and that’s why we are receiving casualties,” he said.
Hospital director Dr Ahmed Faraz Khan said, “So far we have received 42 victims, 12 dead and 30 injured. A few of them are critical, but most are stable. All doctors, particularly surgeons and paramedical staff, have been called for duty as a medical emergency has been imposed.”
The blasts caused the roof of a nearby mosque to collapse while a number of worshippers were inside, rescue workers and provincial government spokes
Visuals of the attack on social media showed thick smoke rising high into the sky after the blasts, while gunshots were also heard in the background.
Two simultaneous suicide car bombs (SVBIEDs) were used as a diversion, along with a coordinated targeted assault by five-six terrorists, sources said.
Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif condemned the attack and expressed his grief over the loss of life. The Chief Minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Ali Amin Gandapur, ordered an inquiry.
On February 28, a top pro-Taliban cleric, Hamidul Haq Haqqani, and four worshippers were killed, and 20 others injured in a blast triggered by a suicide bomber during Friday prayers at a seminary in the same province