File Photo. Asif Hassan—AFP
Suicide attack on Ghalani camp leaves 14 others injured.
A suicide attack on Saturday killed two Pakistani soldiers and wounded 14 others in a restive tribal region near the Afghan border, the military said.
At least four suicide bombers attempted to enter the Ghalani camp in Mohmand tribal region and attack a mosque in a residential area where a large number of soldiers were attending morning prayers. “Wearing suicide jackets, the attackers opened fire and tried to rush inside the mosque,” the military said in a statement.
“Security forces surrounded the attackers. Two of the attackers blew themselves up while two others were shot dead,” it added. “Two [paramilitary] Frontier Corps soldiers embraced shahadat and 14 others were wounded,” it said.
The latest incident comes a month after an overnight militant attack on a police academy on the outskirts of Quetta killed 58 people, mostly cadets, on Oct. 25.
The Army launched an operation in June 2014 in a bid to wipe out militant bases in northwestern tribal areas and so bring an end to a bloody insurgency that has cost thousands of civilian lives since 2004.
Pakistan has been battling an Islamist insurgency since shortly after it decided to ally with the U.S. following its invasion of Afghanistan in 2001. Violence has declined in recent years following a series of military offensives in border areas as well as concerted efforts to block the militants’ sources of funding. But the remnants of militant groups are still able to carry out periodic bloody attacks, particularly in the northwest.
According to data from the South Asia Terrorism Portal, 457 civilians and 182 members of the security forces were killed in Pakistan from Jan. 1 to Sept. 11, putting 2016 on course for fewer casualties than 2015. Last year, the country recorded its lowest number of killings since 2007, when the Pakistani Taliban was formed.