Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) has launched an attack that resulted in the loss of 18 Pakistani Army personnel lives. The attack took place in South Waziristan, where TTP ambushed a Pak military convoy. TTP spokesperson Muhammad Khurasani stated that the ambush occurred at approximately 9:30 a.m. (Pakistan time).
According to Khurasani, TTP Mujahideen “successfully ambushed two army vehicles near Spin Mosque in the Shulam Khesoor area of Tiaraza district in South Waziristan Province, resulting in the deaths of 18 army personnel.” He added that four soldiers managed to escape the attack.
Khurasani assured that all TTP members were safe during the operation. He has also mentioned that the Army initiated shelling on the area via helicopters to retrieve the fallen soldiers’ bodies. However, Pakistan Army reports indicate that six Pakistani soldiers and four terrorists were killed in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
The ambush transpired in the Asman Manza area of South Waziristan, a tribal district bordering Afghanistan. Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the military’s media wing has revealed that four terrorists were killed in response, while two sustained injuries.
Pakistan Army added that a “sanitisation operation” is currently underway to eliminate any remaining terrorists in the region.
Established in 2007 as an amalgamation of various militant factions, TTP the banned terrorist organisation has caused a series of terror activities in Pakistan. Pakistan has experienced increase in terrorist incidents attributed to TTP.
In the past month, TTP militants attacked a police checkpoint in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, resulting in loss of lives of two policemen. Earlier on January 30, a Pakistan – Taliban suicide bomber blew up himself in a mosque during afternoon prayers in Peshawar, killing more than 100 and injuring around 200 others. In February, TTP militants stormed the office of Karachi’s Police chief, triggering gunfire that resulted in loss of three militants and four others, as well as two police constables.
TTP that has ties to Al-Qaeda, has been linked to numerous deadly assaults across Pakistan, including an attack on an army headquarters in 2009, military base assaults, and the 2008 bombing of Islamabad’s Marriott Hotel. The heinous 2014 Army Public School attack in Peshawar, orchestrated by TTP, claimed the lives of over 130 students.
Past events suggest that the Army tried to maintain a relationship with terrorists, but it was limited to “kinetic operations.” However, historical instances suggest otherwise. For instance, the 2004 ‘Shakai agreement’ with Nek Mohammad Wazir granted amnesty to terrorists and allowed them to keep weapons. Now, upsurgence of attacks against Pakistan Army showcases the outcome of breeding terrorists.