ISLAMABAD – At least 11 soldiers, including an army officer, have losttheir lives and 13 others sustained injuries when an assailant detonatedhis explosive vest in Pakistan’s northern district of Swat, police say.
“The soldiers were playing volleyball in the evening outside the militarybase… when a … bomber managed to blow himself up,” said a local securityofficial, speaking on condition of anonymity, on Saturday, shortly afterthe terrorist attack was carried out in Kabal area.
The outlawed militant group Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), also known asPakistani Taliban, in a statement claimed the responsibility for the deadlyattack, threatening that Islamabad should “wait for more (attacks).”
Swat is a river valley and an administrative district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwaprovince. It is locally known as the Switzerland of Pakistan and was once aTTP stronghold from 2007 to 2009, when the Pakistani army launched alarge-scale operation against the militants in the picturesque valley,destroying their hideouts within two months.
According to officials, more than 2,000 Taliban militants have so far beendriven out of the volatile region.
Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi denounced the attack in astatement.
“No cowardly attack can deter us in pursuing our struggle against themenace of terrorism to its logical conclusion. We will continue our fighttill the last trace is rooted out,” the prime minister said.
The last deadly attack conducted by TTP militants in Swat dates back toJanuary 2013, when the militants targeted a religious center and killed 21worshipers and wounded 70 others.
Despite frequent offensives by the Pakistani army, acts of terror bymilitants continue to target security forces as well as civilians.
Thousands of Pakistanis have lost their lives in bombings and othermilitant attacks since 2001, when Pakistan entered into an alliance withthe United States in Washington’s so-called war on terror.
Thousands more have been displaced by the wave of violence and militancysweeping the country.