PakistanOn December 18, 15 armed attackers raided the police station of the Anti-Terrorism Department (CTD) in the city of Bannu, located in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province of Turkey, near the border with Afghanistan. The attackers, who took the security forces in the police station hostage and released the detainees, were neutralized with the operation.
Pakistani Defense Minister Khawaja Muhammed Asif stated that all the hostages were rescued and that 33 attackers were neutralized in the operation and 2 special forces personnel lost their lives. Asif also stated that at least 10 security forces were injured during the operation.
“All options failed and the terrorists refused to release innocent people, so we decided to use force,” a senior security official told the media on an anonymous basis.
In the first hours of the hostage crisis, it was stated that the attackers, who were members of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), also called the Pakistani branch of the Taliban, wanted to negotiate with the authorities for safe passage to Afghanistan.
The TTP has stepped up its attacks in Pakistan after the ceasefire ended last month.
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