By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: Eleven security personnel were martyred when militants rammed an explosive-laden vehicle into a checkpoint in the northwestern district of Bajaur, the military said on Tuesday, in the latest attack to hit the volatile region bordering Afghanistan.
The assault, which also left a young girl dead and seven others injured, including women and children, came as Pakistani forces repelled an attempt by a dozen gunmen to overrun the joint post manned by soldiers and law enforcement officers, according to a statement from the military’s Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) wing.
Security forces “engaged the fleeing khwarij with precision” and eliminated all 12 attackers, the ISPR said, using the term “khwarij” – meaning renegades or outcasts – that Pakistani authorities apply to the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) militant group. The statement described the militants as belonging to an “Indian Proxy, Fitna al Khwarij,” a reference often used by Islamabad to allege foreign backing for the insurgents.
“In their desperation, the attackers rammed an explosive-laden vehicle into the perimeter wall,” the ISPR said. “Due to the blast impact infrastructure at check post collapsed resultantly eleven brave sons of soil, rendered the ultimate sacrifice and [embracing] martyrdom.” The explosion also damaged nearby residential buildings, leading to the death of the girl and injuries to civilians, the statement added.
President Asif Ali Zardari condemned the attack and extended condolences to the families of those killed, according to a statement from his Pakistan Peoples Party’s media cell. “The sacrifice made by the martyrs for the country’s defence further strengthens our resolve,” Zardari said. He added that eliminating terrorists with “external support” remained the state’s top priority.
The incident occurred on Feb. 16 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province’s Bajaur district, part of the rugged tribal areas where Pakistani forces have long battled Islamist militants. It follows a string of recent assaults in the area, including the killing of an additional station house officer days earlier when gunmen targeted a police station in the Wara Mamund tehsil of Bajaur. In December 2025, a major-ranked army officer was killed during an intelligence-based operation in the same district.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has seen a sharp uptick in violence over the past year, with fatalities rising from 1,620 in 2024 to 2,331 in 2025, according to the Annual Security Report from the Islamabad-based Centre for Research and Security Studies (CRSS). That represented a 44% year-on-year increase and accounted for more than 82% of the national rise in deaths from militant attacks and counter-insurgency operations.
Pakistan has attributed much of the surge to cross-border incursions since the Taliban returned to power in Afghanistan in 2021, with the provinces of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan – both sharing porous frontiers with Afghanistan – bearing the brunt. In a Jan. 6 news conference, ISPR Director General Lieutenant General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry said Pakistani forces conducted 75,175 intelligence-based operations nationwide in 2025, including 14,658 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and 58,778 in Balochistan. He reported 5,397 terrorism incidents across the country last year, with 3,811 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 1,557 in Balochistan, and 29 elsewhere. Chaudhry said 2,597 militants were killed in those operations, and highlighted 10 major attacks in which civilians and soft targets were hit, with Afghan militants involved in all cases.
The ISPR statement on Tuesday’s attack said sanitization operations were underway to clear any remaining militants, as part of the ongoing “Azm e Istehkam” counter-terrorism campaign approved by the federal government’s apex committee on the National Action Plan. “The sacrifices of our brave soldiers and innocent civilians further reinforce our unwavering commitment to safeguarding our nation at all costs,” the statement said.
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