9 soldiers killed in suicide attack by TTP militant in northwest Pakistan

A suicide attack by the outlawed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) on a security forces convoy killed nine soldiers and injured 20 others in Pakistan's restive northwest on Thursday, the military said.

A bike-ridden bomber hit the convoy in the Bannu district of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, Inter-Services Public Relations, the military's media wing, said.

The bomber rammed his bike into a vehicle of forces in the convoy, killing nine soldiers and injuring 20 others, the statement said.

The banned TTP has accepted responsibility for the attack.

Following the incident, law enforcers rushed to the blast site and cordoned off the entire area. A massive search operation was launched to arrest the perpetrators of the blast, it said.

Taking to social media platform X, formerly Twitter, caretaker Prime Minister Anwaarul Haq Kakar condemned the attack. He called such acts “utterly reprehensible” and said his thoughts were with the families of those killed and injured.

Recently, Pakistan has been hit by a wave of terrorist activities orchestrated by the outlawed terror outfit.

The TTP was set up as an umbrella group of several militant outfits in 2007.

Last month, two policemen were killed and as many injured when TTP militants attacked a police checkpoint in the country's restive Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

On January 30, a Pakistan Taliban suicide bomber blew himself up during the afternoon prayers in a mosque in Peshawar, killing 101 people and injuring more than 200 others.

In February, TTP militants stormed the Karachi Police chief's office in Pakistan's most populous city, sparking gunfire that killed three rebels and four others, including two police constables.

The outfit, which is believed to be close to Al-Qaeda, has been blamed for several deadly attacks across Pakistan, including an attack on army headquarters in 2009, assaults on military bases, and the 2008 bombing of the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad.

The TTP also orchestrated the heinous Army Public School attack in Peshawar in 2014, in which over 130 students were killed.