Islamabad: At least twelve people were killed and 30 injured as security forces clashed with the attackers after two suicide bombers detonated explosives to breach a wall at a military base in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on March 4 evening.
The terrorists targeted the security barrier at Bannu Cantonment in the restive province just after Iftar during the ongoing month of Ramadan, AP news agency reported.
A little-known faction affiliated with Hafiz Gul Bahadur, Jaish Al Fursan, claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement. The group is believed to be one of several factions associated with the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).
"So far we have received 42 victims, 12 dead and 30 injured. A few of them are critical, but most are stable. All doctors, particularly surgeons and paramedical staff, have been called for duty as a medical emergency has been imposed," the agency quoted Hospital director, Dr Ahmed Faraz Khan, as saying.
The blasts caused the roof of a nearby mosque to collapse while a number of worshippers were inside, rescue workers said. Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif condemned the attack and expressed his grief over the loss of life. The Chief Minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Ali Amin Gandapur, ordered an inquiry.
The attack comes just after a top pro-Taliban cleric, Hamidul Haq Haqqani, was killed in a blast triggered by a suicide bomber during Friday prayers at a seminary in the same province.
