A group of heavily armed militants launched coordinated attacks Friday on three Pakistan military posts near the border with Afghanistan, reportedly killing several security personnel and wounding many more.
The military’s media wing, Inter-Services Public Relations, reported hours later that the predawn raid took place in the volatile border district of Khyber. It resulted in the deaths of at least three soldiers, while the ensuing clashes killed four assailants.
The statement did not share further details, but multiple security sources in the battle zone reported that more than a dozen Pakistani soldiers were also wounded.
Militants tied to an outlawed entity known as the Hafiz Gul Bahadur group claimed responsibility for the attack in a social media post.
The group has stated publicly that its fighters are waging insurgent attacks in coordination with the globally designated terrorist organization Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP.
Militancy-hit Khyber and surrounding border districts often encounter deadly attacks aimed at Pakistani security forces and their facilities.
Pakistan complains that the TTP and leaders of other antistate groups have taken shelter in Afghanistan after fleeing counterinsurgency operations and orchestrated cross border attacks from sanctuaries there.
The violence has intensified and killed hundreds of Pakistanis, mostly security forces, since the Taliban reclaimed control of Afghanistan three years ago.
The de facto Taliban government denies the presence of foreign militants in the country, insisting that it does not allow anyone to threaten other countries, including Pakistan, from Afghan soil.
