Pakistani Taliban splinter group claims suicide attack, 14 police dead

A suicide bomber and several gunmen detonated an explosives-laden vehicle near a police station in Bannu, a district bordering Afghanistan.

The death toll from a suicide attack on a security post in northwest Pakistan rose to 14 police officers, authorities said early on Sunday. A self-proclaimed breakaway group of the Pakistani Taliban has claimed the attack.

A suicide bomber and several gunmen detonated an explosives-laden vehicle near the post in Bannu, a district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province bordering Afghanistan, late on Saturday, senior police official Sajjad Khan said. The attack triggered an intense shoot-out, and some officers were killed in the exchange, while others died later after the building collapsed.

Rescuers conducted an hours-long search operation using heavy machinery to retrieve bodies from under the rubble, Khan said, adding that three police officers were wounded in the attack.

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Meanwhile, hundreds gathered on Sunday at the police headquarters in Bannu to attend the funerals of the slain officers. Uniformed colleagues stood in silence as coffins draped in the national flag were carried past grieving families. Some relatives broke down upon seeing the coffins, as a Muslim cleric led funeral prayers under tight security

Security forces have launched an operation to track down the perpetrators.

A newly formed militant group, Ittehad-ul-Mujahideen Pakistan, claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement sent to reporters. While the group claims it was formed by splinter factions of the Pakistani Taliban, known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, authorities have accused it of being a front for the TTP.

Pakistan has witnessed a surge in militant violence in recent years, much of it blamed on the TTP, a separate group but an ally of the Afghan Taliban, who returned to power in Afghanistan in 2021. Islamabad often accuses Afghanistan’s Taliban government of providing sanctuary to the TTP, a claim that Kabul denies.