PESHAWAR: The outlawed Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) on Thursday claimed responsibility for attacks on security forces in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan that took place near the Afghan border over the past 48 hours.

Nine security personnel, including an officer, were martyred and eight others injured in ambushes and bomb attacks in Zhob area of Balochistan and North Waziristan tribal district and Bajaur tribal district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Wednesday and Tuesday.

“Mujahideen attacked soldiers in Garyum area of North Waziristan when they were coming to start operation,” claimed TTP spokesman Mohammad Khura­ssani in a statement issued to the media from an unknown location.

Inter-Services Public Relations, the military’s media department, confirmed martyrdom of Captain Faheem and two soldiers, Shafi and Naseem, in North Waziristan. The army had said that troops conducted an intelligence-based operation in the area in which two terrorists were also killed.

Separately, four personnel of the Frontier Corps, Balochistan, were martyred and six others injured in Manzakai area of Zhob district adjacent to South Waziristan tribal district on Wednesday when terrorists based in Afghanistan opened fire at them.

ISPR stated that terrorists ambushed the FC troops from Afghanistan when they were moving to carry out fencing at the Pak-Afghan border in Manzakai sector. TTP also claimed responsibility for the attack on security forces in Bajaur tribal district on Tuesday.

Two security personnel were martyred and two others suffered injuries when their vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb in Mamound tehsil of the district. The army had launched an operation against TTP and other militant outfits in North Waziristan in June 2014 and dismantled their network.

Published in Dawn, May 7th, 2021