Bannu, Nowshera attacks: KP IGP claims of advance

According to a statement issued by the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Inspector General of Police (IGP), the department has made progress in investigating the Bannu Cantonment attack and a suicide attack inside Darul Uloom Haqqania in Nowshera district by identifying several participants in the two incidents. In the initial incident, security forces neutralised all 16 terrorists who had orchestrated the attack. These terrorists had driven two explosive-laden vehicles into the perimeter of Bannu Cantonment to breach the blockades and enter the high-security zone. During the exchange of fire with the aforementioned terrorists, five soldiers were killed. This incident followed a suicide attack in Jamia Darul Uloom Haqqani a few days earlier, in which the head of the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam faction was killed along with six people, while 18 others were injured. Investigations are underway to gather intelligence on the networks involved in the two terror attacks, while a Joint Investigation Team (JIT) has been established to investigate the targeted killings of religious figures, especially in the provincial capital, including by acquiring CCTV footage installed in the affected areas. The KP Police Chief has declined to offer further details on the investigation’s findings, citing the ongoing nature of the inquiry.