Just two weeks after ending ceasefire agreement with the Pakistani government, Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) launched another attack on December 18. According to Republic’s sources, as many as eight Pakistani soldiers have been killed as the Taliban is now on an offensive against the Pakistan administration. The attack is said to have been taken place in Bannu and Peshawar, which is one of the most populous cities in the country. These locations are near the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province which borders Afghanistan.
Sources say that the Pakistani soldiers also retaliated but suffered greater casualties in the exchange. The attack comes just two days after one Pakistani civilian was killed and 20 were left injured in a cross-border shelling by the Taliban in Afghanistan. It is worth noting that the TTP recently warned the Shehbaz Sharif regime that it will intensify its attacks on the country if their requirements are not met. The ceasefire agreement was signed between the two sides in May this year, however, the TTP announced to end it and ordered its fighters to intensify their offensive.
Attacks across Pakistan
The latest attack by the TTP follows the attack that took place two days ago when it launched mortars toward civilians near the southwestern Chaman border crossing. Chaman’s local security officials blamed the Afghan Taliban of initiating the firing which targeted Pakistani soldiers who were repairing a portion of the damaged border fence at that time. Prior to this, seven persons were killed, and 16 others wounded in another shelling from the Afghan Taliban in Chaman. According to Taliban’s spokesperson, it justified the attack saying that Pakistan is trying to expand by construction of new checkpoints on the Afghan side of the border.
“The Afghan Interim government should ensure that such incidents are not repeated,” Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif tweeted after the attack. Pakistan had also endured a suicide attack earlier this month which killed four people.