Twenty-three Pakistani soldiers were killed Tuesday when a six-man suicide squad attempted to drive a truck full of explosives into a military camp in Pakistan’s northwestern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK), according to the army.
The attack is the deadliest on the country’s armed forces this year. Other assaults on Tuesday in the Dera Ismail Khan District of KPK province left 54 militants dead, according to the military.
In a post on X (formerly Twitter), caretaker Interior Minister Sarfraz Bugti condemned the “terrorist attack on the police station” and expressed deep sorrow over the loss of life.
Islamic militant group Tehreek e Jihad Pakistan (TJP) has claimed responsibility for the attack.
The incident comes less than two months before Pakistan’s general election, in a year that has seen a sharp rise in militant attacks across the country.