By Mushtaq Ali
PESHAWAR, Pakistan, May 15 (Reuters) – Militants stormed a security outpost in Pakistan’s northwest, ramming a vehicle filled with explosives into the camp before waging a gun battle that killed at least eight troops and injured 35 others, two security officials said on Friday.
The bombing on Thursday night follows three militant attacks in recent days that have killed nearly 30 people and threatened to reignite fighting with neighbouring Afghanistan, which Pakistan blames for harbouring militant groups. The Taliban government in Kabul rejects the allegations.
Images from the outpost, situated along the mountainous border with Afghanistan in Bajaur district, showed that much of the structure had been reduced to bricks and rubble, while parts of the remaining building were charred and blackened.
“The terrorists first targeted the camp with a quadcopter and then an explosive-laden car struck the building, causing a huge explosion,” one of the officials said.
“Armed terrorists later entered the security camp and opened indiscriminate fire.”
He said the outpost was a key installation for countering cross-border attacks.
The two officials said security forces in the region had responded immediately and killed all the militants involved. Pakistan’s military has not issued a statement on the attack.
A Reuters journalist in Bajaur town said the blast was so powerful that it was felt at markets over 20 km (12 miles) from the outpost and the military had since closed off roads and surrounded the area.
The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement sent to journalists.
Since Saturday, two attacks near the town of Bannu, also in the northwest, have killed 25 people while a shootout with militant groups in the southwestern Balochistan province left five soldiers dead, the military said in a statement.
Islamabad says the TTP’s leadership and many of its fighters are based in Afghanistan, as are armed insurgents seeking independence for Balochistan. Kabul has repeatedly denied allowing militants to use Afghan territory to launch attacks in Pakistan.
Islamabad launched airstrikes on Kabul in February, saying it was targeting militant strongholds, sparking the worst fighting between the two countries in years.
(Reporting by Mushtaq Ali in Peshawar; Additional reporting by Saleem Ahmed in Quetta; Writing by Saad Sayeed; Editing by Tom Hogue)
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