Pakistani militants carried out a daring early-morning raid near the northwestern border with Afghanistan, killing over a dozen officers in the latest attack of 2024 -- a year already marked as one of the deadliest in the region.
Laddha Police Deputy Superintendent Hidayat Ullah told RFE/RL's Radio Mashaal that 16 security officers were killed when militants opened fire at a security checkpoint in South Waziristan at 2 am on December 21. He said eight more officers were wounded.
Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan (TTP), which claimed responsibility for the attack, said it killed 35 Pakistani security officers. Radio Mashaal could not independently confirm the number of officers killed.
Neither side said how many militants were killed during the attack.
There has been a steady increase in TTP attacks in Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province since the Taliban regained control of Kabul in August 2021. The TTP seeks to impose Shari'a law in Pakistan.
The latest attack came as the elders of Dre Maseed in the Sur Rogha area of South Waziristan held a meeting on December 20 to demand that the security forces change tactics.
Sherpao Maseed, a leader of the assembly, told Radio Mashaal that Pakistani defense forces are targeting militants with artillery and mortar shells, putting civilians in danger.
The Pakistan Center for Conflict and Security Studies said in its most recent report that more than 240 people were killed in "terrorist incidents" in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in November
The death toll included 68 security officers, the highest in a single month this year.
Meanwhile, the Army Public Relations Directorate (ISPR) claims to have killed dozens of suspected militants in operations in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa this month.
The governments of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Pakistan say they are committed to wiping out the TTP.