PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — Two suicide bombers attacked the headquarters of a security force in northwestern Pakistan on Monday morning, killing at least three officers and wounding five others, police and rescue officials said.
The attack took place in Peshawar, the capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province bordering Afghanistan, said city Police Chief Saeed Ahmad.
He said one attacker detonated his explosives at the main gate of the provincial headquarters
of the Federal Constabulary, while the second bomber was shot and killed by officers near the parking area.
According to Ahmad, a large number of security personnel were on open ground inside the headquarters for morning parade drills when the attack took place. “The terrorists involved in today's attack were on foot and failed to reach the parade area and a timely response by our forces prevented a much larger tragedy,” he told The Associated Press.
No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.
However, the Pakistani Taliban, also known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, have been blamed for similar previous assaults in the country, which has witnessed a surge in militant attacks. The TPP is separate from but allied with the Afghan Taliban that leads Afghanistan.
The latest attack came less than two weeks after a suicide bomber struck outside a court in Pakistan’s capital Islamabad, detonating his explosives next to a police car and killing 12 people.
The attacks have strained ties between Islamabad and Afghanistan’s Taliban government, with Pakistan accusing the Pakistani Taliban of operating freely inside Afghanistan since the Taliban takeover in 2021.
Pakistan's government often accuses Afghanistan of turning a blind eye to cross-border attacks by militants.
Kabul denies the allegation, but tensions between the two sides escalated after Afghanistan blamed Pakistan for Oct. 9 drone strikes in Kabul and vowed retaliation. The ensuing fighting killed dozens of people, including soldiers, civilians and militants, before Qatar brokered a ceasefire on Oct. 19, which remains in place.
It was followed by two rounds of talks in Istanbul, during which the two sides failed to reach an agreement after Afghanistan refused to give guarantees in writing about preventing the TTP from using Afghan soil for attacks inside Pakistan.
Pakistan in recent weeks has stepped up operations against the TTP, killing dozens of insurgents near regions bordering Afghanistan.
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Associated Press writer Rasool Dawar in Peshawar, Pakistan, contributed to this story.
