PESHAWAR: At least 12 civilians were killed and another 32 injured on Tuesday evening after a pair of suicide bombers drove two explosive-filled vehicles into the wall of a military cantonment in Bannu district in northwestern Pakistan, security officials said.
A local police official, Muhammad Ghulam, told Arab News two suicide bombings took place, followed by a gunbattle between militants and security forces in Bannu, which is in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province bordering Afghanistan. The province has seen a surge in militant attacks in recent years that Pakistan blames on insurgents harboring in Afghanistan. Kabul denies it provides refuge to militants and says Pakistan’s security challenges are a domestic issue.
The latest attack occurred in an area adjacent to a local market after sunset, when people were breaking their fast during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. Video clips circulating on social media showed thick grey plumes of smoke rising into the air as gunshots rang out.
“Because of the intensity of the blasts, walls and roofs of residential compounds close to the military facility collapsed, which inflicted civilian casualties,” police officer Ghulam said.
Pedestrians gather near a detonated explosive-laden van at an army compound in Bannu on March 5, 2025. (AFP)
A military official with knowledge of the attack, declining to be named, said 12 civilians had been killed in the assault and 32 people were injured.
Bannu District Hospital director Dr. Ahmed Faraz Khan told AP:
“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.”
Commuters ride past the wreckage after militants detonated explosive-laden vans at an army compound in Bannu on March 5, 2025. (AFP)
Jaish-e-Fursan Muhammad, a militant faction affiliated with the Pakistani Taliban (TTP), claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement released to media, saying dozens of security officials had been killed in the assault. Police and military officials have denied this.
Muhammad Ali Saif, the spokesman for the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) government, said in a late night statement security forces had “foiled” the attack on the cantonment and most of the deaths were of civilians and had been caused by the destruction of buildings adjacent to the military facility.
“The explosions caused the roof of a nearby mosque to collapse, killing worshippers,” Saif said.
Noman Khittab, a spokesman at the District Headquarters Hospital (DHQ) Bannu, told Arab News the dead included women and children.
A security source said “verified intelligence” indicated the militants involved in the attack were in contact with their “handlers” in neighboring Afghanistan. Attacks by the Pakistani Taliban militant group have risen in recent years against Pakistani police and military in areas near the Afghan border.
Pakistan has repeatedly accused the Taliban authorities in Kabul of facilitating cross-border militant attacks, a charge Afghan authorities deny.
Militants have targeted Bannu several times in the past. Last November, a suicide car bomb killed 12 troops and wounded several others at a security post.
In July, a suicide bomber detonated his explosives-laden vehicle and other militants opened fire near the outer wall of the military facility.
