17 members of the Pakistani security forces were killed while thwarting a group of militants attacking a checkpoint in makin District, South Waziristan province.
A press release issued by the Joint Public Relations Commission of the branches of the Armed Forces, the media wing of the Pakistan army, said: “the attempt was effectively thwarted by our troops. In the ensuing exchange of Fire, 8 militants were killed; however, during the heavy exchange of Fire, 17 brave compatriots were killed, having fought bravely,” The Nation newspaper of Pakistan reported on Sunday.
“A cleansing operation is currently underway in the area, and the perpetrators of the heinous act will be brought to justice,”the statement added.
The statement continued that “the Pakistani security forces are determined to eliminate the threat of terrorism”, and that “such sacrifices on the part of our brave men strengthen our resolve”.
In Peshawar (Pakistan), the “Pakistani Taliban” movement on Saturday claimed responsibility for a deadly attack on a military checkpoint in the north-west of the country. The militant group said it killed 35 soldiers and wounded 15 others in an early morning raid. It also claimed to have confiscated equipment including a night vision device and weapons.
This is the latest attack of the “Pakistani Taliban” on troops in the troubled Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, which borders Afghanistan. They made these allegations public in one of their chat groups on “WhatsApp”.
The Pakistani military has not officially commented on the incident in South Waziristan, but a security official said the militants used light and heavy weapons. He said that they killed 16 soldiers and wounded 8 others. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.
The “Pakistani Taliban” has stepped up its attacks on the army and police since November 2022, when they unilaterally ended a ceasefire with the government, after the failure of months-long talks hosted by the Afghan “Taliban” rulers in Kabul.
The Pakistani army also announced on Saturday that a military court had handed down prison sentences to 25 people allegedly involved in riots last year, after the arrest of former prime minister Imran Khan. Thousands of demonstrators attacked the army headquarters in the city of Rawalpindi, attacked an air base in Mianwali, in the eastern province of Punjab, and burned a building housing the state radio of Pakistan in the Northwest, The”Associated Press” reported Sunday.
The prison sentences ranged from two to 10 years, which the military warned served as a “stark reminder” to people not to take the law into their own hands.
