The Pakistani Army confirmed in a statement that nine terrorists assaulted the Pakistani Air Force’s Mianwali Training Air Base, causing damage to three non-operational aircraft that were previously phased out.
A day after three separate terror assaults in the country claimed the lives of seventeen troops, nine highly armed terrorists assaulted an Air Force training station in Punjab province early this morning. The army declared that all of the attackers were “sent to hell”.
The Pakistani Army confirmed in a statement that nine terrorists assaulted the Pakistani Air Force’s Mianwali Training Air Base, causing damage to three non-operational aircraft that were previously phased out.
The armed forces stated that the “combing and clearance operation at PAF Training Airbase Mianwali has been concluded, and all nine terrorists have been sent to hell”.
According to the statement, the operation was started in order to “eliminate any potential threat in the surrounding area following the cowardly and failed terrorist attack on the base this morning.” Three already phased-out non-operational aircraft suffered minor damage during the strike, according to the Pakistani army, even though no damage had been done to any of the PAF’s operationally functioning assets.
In a statement to the media, Tehreek-i-Jihad Pakistan (TJP), a recently formed terrorist organization that is a branch of Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), claimed responsibility for the attack.
The acting Prime Minister, Anwaarul Haq Kakar, denounced the incident and declared, “Any attempt to undermine our security will be met with unwavering resistance.”
The incident occurred only hours after several terrorist attacks in the unrest-plagued districts of Khyber, Pakhtunkhwa, and Balochistan claimed the lives of at least 17 troops.
Terrorists attacked two vehicles transporting security troops from Pasni to the Ormara region of Gwadar district in the unrest-plagued southwestern province of Balochistan on Friday, killing fourteen Pakistani soldiers.
The military has suffered the most losses in Balochistan province this year as a result of separatists’ increased attacks since a ceasefire agreement between the TTP and the Pakistani government expired in November 2022. This Friday’s total is the highest.
One soldier and five other people were killed and 24 others were injured in a series of bomb blasts that targeted police and security forces convoys in the Dera Ismail Khan area of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, hours before the Gwadar attack. Another incident in the same province’s Lakki Marwat area claimed the lives of two soldiers.
Sarfraz Bugti, Pakistan’s acting interior minister, has expressed alarm about the recent rise in terrorist incidents in the country. He underlined that even if the assailants’ identities could change, the fundamental foe is still the same. According to Bugti, this terror wave is part of a plot to undermine Pakistan and create instability. Terrorists and separatists have been hitting security troops more often over the past year, especially in the unstable region of Balochistan. Since the Taliban seized power in nearby Afghanistan in August 2021, violence in the nation has increased. There has been a notable surge in terrorist assaults, according to reports, with a greater frequency of events occurring in Gwadar, including attacks on Chinese engineers.
According to an analysis, the number of security personnel lost in the first nine months of 2023 was at least 386, which was an eight-year high. The bulk of the attacks and deaths from this conflict have occurred in the provinces of Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Pakistan’s security situation continues to be a major worry as the country faces both internal and foreign challenges.
