A suicide bomber and several gunmen attacked a police security post near the city of Bannu in Pakistan’s northwest late Saturday, killing 14 police officers and wounding three others, according to provincial authorities.
The attackers drove an explosives-laden vehicle to the post and detonated it before armed fighters opened fire, senior police official Sajjad Khan said. Some officers were killed in the exchange, while others died when the building collapsed from the blast. Rescuers searched the rubble for hours, using heavy machinery to pull out the bodies.
Hundreds gathered at Bannu police headquarters on Sunday for the funerals. Uniformed colleagues stood at attention as flag-draped coffins were carried past grieving families, and a Muslim cleric led prayers under tight security, the Associated Press reported.
A militant group calling itself Ittehad-ul-Mujahideen Pakistan claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement distributed to journalists. Pakistani authorities, however, said the newly announced group is a front for the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP, an ally of the Afghan Taliban that has been blamed for a wave of recent violence. Security forces have launched an operation to track down the perpetrators, Khan added.
President Asif Ali Zardari condemned the attack and directed local authorities to assist the wounded and residents whose homes were damaged. He explicitly blamed the Taliban administration in Kabul for sheltering the militants.
“Terrorists operating from sanctuaries in Afghanistan under the Taliban administration and supported externally are targeting civilians and law enforcement personnel in Pakistan,” Zardari said in a statement, vowing to go after “their facilitators and sponsors.”
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif also offered condolences and condemned the attack.
Tensions between Pakistan and Afghanistan have escalated since the Taliban returned to power in 2021. More than two hundred people have been killed in cross-border clashes since late February, although sporadic fighting has continued at a lower intensity since China-mediated peace talks in early April.