Islamabad [Pakistan]: Six personnel of the Peshawar Frontier Corps (FC) sustained injuries in a blast as their convoy came under attack in Peshawar’s Hayatabad area, Dawn reported on Tuesday citing local police.
Cantt SP Waqas Rafi told the media that the attack was on a convoy of the paramilitary force that was moving through Hayatabad’s phase 6. According to Dawn, the footage of the incident showed a crowd of people on the road where the blast purportedly took place. The charred remains of a vehicle could be seen in the distance.
“Looking into the matter and collecting further details. The area has been cordoned off,” Dawn quoted SP Rafi as saying.
He added, “We will get to the bottom of this matter, and the culprits involved in the incident will be exposed”.
Tehreek-i-Jihad Pakistan, a newly found faction of the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan, has claimed responsibility for the attack, as per Dawn.
Later, Peshawar SSP (Operations) Haroon Rasheed said in a statement that an “explosive-laden vehicle” was used in the attack.
He further added that a search operation is underway and the matter is being investigated.
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan condemned the attack and called the situation “worrying”.
“It is worrying how terror attacks are increasing in KP and Balochistan. Our security forces are almost on a daily basis being targeted and giving sacrifices,” the former PM said on Twitter.
Meanwhile, Pakistan has seen an uptick in terror activities, especially in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan, after the outlawed Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan ended its ceasefire with the government in November last year, Dawn reported.
A report released this month by think tank Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies said the first half of the current year witnessed a steady and alarming rise in terror and suicide attacks, claiming the lives of 389 people across the country.
In a press conference in June, Inter-Services Public Relations Director General Maj Gen Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry said that the security forces conducted 13,619 intelligence operations this year in which 1,172 terrorists were killed or arrested.
“On a daily basis, over 77 operations are being carried out by armed forces, police, intelligence agencies, and other law enforcement agencies to rid of the menace of terrorism,” Dawn quoted DG Sharif as saying.
He added that 95 soldiers were killed in these operations.
Today’s incident follows two attacks on the military earlier this month in Balochistan. Both attacks took place on the same day and the death of 12 soldiers in the two incidents was the military’s highest single-day death toll from terrorist attacks reported this year.
