The death toll in the gun attack carried out on Thursday by militants at three vans carrying passengers in the lower Kurram area of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa rose to 38, Dawn reported, citing police.
Speaking to Dawn, Ahmady Shama Station House Officer Kaleem Shah said that 38 people were killed, including three women, and 11 were injured. While speaking to the media outside the Islamabad High Court, Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi said that he gave the same toll. “This past week has been difficult and upsetting; now 38 people have been martyred in Kurram,” he said.
According to earlier reports, the death toll was reported at 33, with 14 others injured when they were targeted by militants.
The militants ambushed the vehicles in the Kurram district of restive Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province bordering Afghanistan. The vehicles were travelling in a convoy from Parachinar to Peshawar, the capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, when gunmen opened fire, the officials said, as reported by news agency PTI.
This comes a day after at least 12 security personnel from the Pakistan Army were killed and another 10 critically injured in a suicide attack on a security check post in MaliKhel in Bannu District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
As per Pakistan military’s media wing Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the deadly attack took place late Tuesday night when a joint security post of Pakistan Army and the Frontier Constabulary (FC) was attacked by at least six men, who rammed an explosives-laden vehicle into the wall of the post.
“The attempt to enter the post was effectively thwarted by troops. The suicide blast led to collapse of portion of perimeter wall and damaged adjoining infrastructure, resulting in shahadat (martyrdom) of 12 brave sons of soil that include 10 soldiers of Frontier Constabulary,” read a statement issued by the ISPR.
“Sanitization operation is being conducted in the area and the perpetrators of this heinous act will be brought to justice. Security forces and law enforcement agencies of Pakistan are determined to eliminate the menace of terrorism and such sacrifices of our brave men further strengthen our resolve,” the statement added.
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