Six Dead in Taliban Attack on the Eve of SCO Summit in Pakistan
Police forces in Bannu, Pakistan, Oct. 14, 2024. X/ @Nawaiwaqt_
October 14, 2024 Hour: 6:51 am
Several armed and camouflaged men stormed a police headquarters in the city of Bannu.
On Monday, six people were killed in an attack in northwestern Pakistan, one day before the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit begins in Islamabad.
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The attack occurred when several armed and camouflaged men stormed a police headquarters in the city of Bannu, in the northern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP).
“Three police officers have lost their lives in the attack so far, and others are injured,” local police officer Najeeb Ullahhe said, adding that “three terrorists were also killed in retaliatory fire.”
Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), also known as the Pakistani Taliban, has claimed responsibility for the attack. Pakistan has ramped up security measures in recent weeks, especially around Islamabad, which will host the SCO summit of heads of government on Tuesday and Wednesday.
The meeting will be attended by Prime Ministers Li Qiang (China) and Mikhail Mishustin (Russia), along with leaders from Belarus, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan.
In the Pakistani capital, 3,000 security personnel have been deployed at the Nur Khan airbase, while 1,000 officers will be stationed at Islamabad airport. Authorities have also identified 43 sensitive points along the routes between the two airports and the high-security area where the SCO summit will take place.
This high-level meeting is being held amid a surge in armed violence in Pakistan, where attacks on foreign nationals have increased recently. In March, five Chinese engineers were killed in an attack on a convoy in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. In October, two Chinese citizens were killed and several others were injured in an attack near Karachi’s international airport, targeting a convoy of workers from China.
teleSUR/ JF Source: EFE
