The Pakistan Army on Tuesday ended the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) or Pakistan’s Taliban’s siege at the Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) in Bannu Cantonment Centre in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in restive northwest Pakistan since Sunday, killing all militants, said local sources.
During the operation, six from the forces were killed, while seven were injured, sources said. Official sources say that a search and sweeping operation is currently being conducted in the Bannu CTD compound, said local sources.
The TTP, meanwhile, claimed their operation in Bannu Cantonment Centre was successful. “Our success has come from Allah. We will not attack the innocent public of Pakistan, as they are brothers," said the TTP in a statement.
They added their “only target was the Pakistan Army and its allied forces such as FC, Police & LEAs."
Meanwhile, a police station in Wana, South Waziristan was attacked by terrorists on Tuesday morning. This is the fourth major attack in Pakhtunkhwa in the past three days, where the intensity and frequency of attacks is on the rise.
A look at the recent attacks:
- December 19: Attack on Wana police station, South Waziristan
- December 19: Suicide attack on Frontier Corps in Miranshah, North Waziristan
- December 19: TTP took 10 CTD personnel hostage in Bannu.
- December 19: Blast in Khuzdar, Balochistan
- December 14: Suicide attack on Pak army convoy in North Waziristan
- December 14: Fire at Diesel depot, Gwadar.
CEASEFIRE OFF
The TTP said on November 28 that they have called off the ceasefire agreed upon with the government in June and ordered fighters to continue their jihad across the country.
The TTP had been publicly raising funds inside mosques during the Friday prayers in Jalalabad city and districts in Ningarhar province, sources had told News18. “The funds are raised in the name of jihad against the Pakistani State and the Pakistan Army," the source had said.
THE TTP
The TTP is a banned militant group based along the Afghan-Pakistan border. It has carried out a number of major attacks on Pakistani security personnel. After several rounds of talks, the Pakistan government and the TTP in June agreed to extend a ceasefire indefinitely, while continuing negotiations to end the nearly two decades of militancy.
The TTP was set up as an umbrella group of several militant outfits in 2007. Its main aim is to impose its strict brand of Islam across Pakistan. The group, which is believed to be close to al-Qaeda, has been blamed for several deadly attacks across Pakistan, including an attack on the Army headquarters in 2009, assaults on military bases and the 2008 bombing of the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad.
Pakistan has been fencing the 2,600-km border with Afghanistan since 2017 to end terrorist infiltration and smuggling, despite intense opposition from the neighbouring country. Besides a fence, the project includes the construction of border posts and forts and raising of new wings of the Frontier Corps, the paramilitary force that guards the border.
When the Taliban returned to power in Afghanistan last year, Pakistan hoped that the new dispensation would deal with the terrorist groups.
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