Armed men attacked a checkpoint in the country’s northwest, killing six Pakistani security personnel and wounding seven others, a police official said on Saturday. The attack took place in Kurram district, where at least 130 people have been killed in fierce communal fighting over the past few weeks.
A ceasefire between the Sunni and Shia communities in the region continues and Saturday’s incident is not linked to recent clashes.
Local official Salim Khan said armed men attacked a Frontier Corps post in Bagam, 200 kilometers south of Peshawar city. The injured have been taken to a military hospital. No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack. Also on Saturday, an intelligence official said 20 militants were killed in the last 24 hours in an operation against the Pakistani Taliban in the Tank district.
The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the press. The officer informed that the commander was also among the dead. The slain militants were involved in attacks on security forces, extortion and targeted killings of civilians, the official said. Both Kurram and Tank are from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, which borders Afghanistan.