11 soldiers martyred, 13 injured in Swat suicide attack

MINGORA: A suicide bombing martyred 11 Pakistan Army soldiers, including a Captain, and caused injuries to 13 others in Swat on Saturday.

The Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the media wing of the Pakistan Army, said an Army unit’s sports area at Kabal in Swat district was targeted in the attack. The martyred officer was identified as Captain Jehanzeb. Initially, the ISPR said three soldiers were martyred and seven wounded in the attack. However, the death toll was updated later.

Army officials in Swat told The News that the soldiers were playing a volleyball match outside their base camp in Kabal in lower Swat valley when a young suicide bomber managed to enter the restricted area and blew himself up near the soldiers. “Eleven of our soldiers were martyred on the spot, while 13 others were injured, some of them critically. The injured are being treated in a military heath facility in Swat,” a security official said.

The Afghanistan-based Pakistani Taliban immediately claimed responsibility for the suicide attack on Pakistan's military camp. Mohammad Khurasani, a spokesman for Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), claimed they had sent a young suicide bomber, Siddiqullah to conduct the suicide attack on the military camp in Swat.

The attack took place in a sports ground of an Army unit in Sharifabad in Kabal area.

Some reports suggested that the security forces enforced curfew in Sharifabad and launched a search operation, but no arrest could be made.

The security was beefed up across the Swat district following the blast. Snap checking was also conducted in Mingora city.

The security forces conducted an intelligence-based operation in Jahanabad in Swat in December in which two wanted terrorists were killed.

The officials had said at the time that the operation was conducted after receiving credible information regarding movement of terrorists.

The Swat attack happened some days after the four back-to-back attacks in Kabul and Jalalabad that killed nearly 200 persons, including 14 foreigners, among them four Americans, 11 soldiers and scores of cops, government officials and civilians.

Two of those attacks in Kabul were claimed by the Afghan Taliban and two by Daesh in Kabul and Jalalabad.

APP adds from Islamabad: Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi strongly condemned the suicide attack on the Pakistan Army unit in Swat.

In a statement, he prayed for blessings on the departed souls and quick recovery of the injured.

Expressing deep grief and condolences with the bereaved families, the prime minister said the coward terrorist enemy is no match for the valiant sons of the soil.

“No cowardly attack can deter us in pursuing our struggle against the menace of terrorism to its logical conclusion. We will continue our fight till the last trace is rooted out,” the prime minister said.