Pakistan: 15 killed including 12 soldiers in suicide bombing

July 24, 2026 - 18:27 | Last updated July 24, 2026 - 18:27

Pakistani soldiers.

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Okaz (Jeddah)

The Pakistani army announced the killing of 12 military personnel, two policemen, and one employee in a car bomb attack targeting a security checkpoint in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, northwestern Pakistan, bordering Afghanistan.

In a statement today (Friday), it reported that armed men ambushed a car carrying a judge in a region in southwestern Pakistan on Thursday, resulting in his death and that of his security guard before fleeing, according to police and government officials.

The attack occurred in Mastung district, Balochistan province, where separatist rebels have intensified attacks on security forces and civilians in recent months.

Mastung police official Abdul Rauf said that judge Abdul Hakim Kakar was traveling from Quetta, the provincial capital, to Mastung to hear cases when 'terrorists ambushed his car, killing him and his guard.'

Although no group claimed responsibility for the attack, suspicion likely falls on Baloch separatist rebels, who have intensified their attacks across the province in recent months, especially the banned Balochistan Liberation Army.

The Pakistani army had announced last Friday the killing of 24 militants during a series of military operations in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in the country's northwest, following an escalation of armed attacks, the latest being a suicide car bomb attack targeting security forces and civilians in Bannu.

In a statement, it said that security forces carried out extensive joint operations in Bannu and surrounding areas over the past 24 hours, resulting, after fierce clashes, in the killing of 24 militants, in addition to seizing quantities of weapons and ammunition they possessed.

Pakistani army spokesman Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry explained that the operation came in light of 'the recent escalation in terrorist activities' targeting police forces and the suicide attack in Bannu, stressing that troops have launched intelligence operations to track down the perpetrators of the attacks and their supporting infrastructure.

Pakistan suicide bombing deaths