Fighters attack army base in Pakistan’s northwest

Pakistan’s army says a mosque has been targeted at an army facility in northwest Pakistan, resulting in a shootout in which four of the attackers and two soldiers have died.

 

Pakistan’s army says a mosque has been targeted at an army facility in northwest Pakistan, resulting in a shootout in which four of the attackers and two soldiers have died.

The army said in a statement that 14 soldiers were wounded in Saturday’s suicide attack, claimed by a faction of the Pakistani Taliban, Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, on Ghalani Camp in the Mohmand tribal region bordering Afghanistan.

The attackers wanted to enter the camp and started shooting after they reached the mosque, where residents and a large number of recruits were present.

The Pakistani army launched Operation Zarb-e-Azb under US pressure in 2014 in an effort to wipe out fighters and their bases in the North Waziristan tribal area.