Pakistan. Eight Soldiers Killed and Seven Policemen Kidnapped in the North West

On Monday evening, "gunmen attacked a border checkpoint in the Tirah region" in the mountainous province of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, on the border with Afghanistan, an unidentified Pakistani intelligence official told AFP.

"The exchange of fire between the two sides lasted for several hours," the same source added, reporting "eight soldiers killed" and "nine attackers killed and seven others injured."

The Pakistani Taliban movement, the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), trained for combat in Afghanistan and which claims to share the ideology of the Taliban, who returned to power in Kabul in 2021, claimed responsibility for the attack.

In a press release, the TTP said it had responded to an operation by security forces against one of its fighters.

In a separate and as yet unclaimed attack, "seven police officers were kidnapped and taken to an unknown destination," a police official who declined to be named told AFP.

"Armed men surrounded a police checkpoint in the Bannu region," also in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, "and seized police weapons," he added.

A second police officer, Muhammad Zia ud-Din, confirmed to the news agency that the seven police officers had been kidnapped.

Pakistan has seen a surge in insurgent attacks this year, particularly in the provinces of Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, both of which border Afghanistan.

Islamabad claims that the TTP uses Afghan areas to carry out attacks on its territory. However, the Afghan Taliban government denies the allegations.

On 6 November, at least five insurgents and four members of the Pakistani Security Forces were killed in a gun battle in the Karama area of ​​South Waziristan.

In late October, eight people, including six members of the security forces, were killed in a suicide attack near a police and army checkpoint in the same Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. The attack was claimed by another group, which was not previously known.

On 25 October, ten Pakistani police officers were killed in an attack on a security checkpoint claimed by the TTP.

In late September, an ambassadorial convoy, including Portuguese diplomats, was targeted in an explosion in the Swat Valley of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. At the time, the TTP claimed no connection with the attack.