A suicide bomb attack on a police checkpoint rocks Islamabad
A suicide attack carried out by the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) terrorist organisation has left at least one policeman dead and six injured this morning in Islamabad. The attack was carried out with a car bomb at a police checkpoint in the Pakistani capital. In addition to the police officers, civilians were among the injured.
According to a statement by the Islamabad Police, picked up by Europa Press, the suicide bomber set off the explosive charge in his car after the officer intercepted him after he appeared suspicious. "The appropriate action of the Islamabad Police has saved the city from a major terrorist attack," the statement said. According to the authorities, the TTP wanted to target "a densely populated area".
Breaking News: Blast in a suspected cab in #Islamabad’s I-10/4 Sector, leaves 4 policemen hurt. Police was chasing the suspected cab and the blast occurred when was stopped for checking. 3 suspects were reportedly inside the cab. #IslamabadBlast pic.twitter.com/40reDxCVoT
— Islamabad Updates (@IslamabadViews) December 23, 2022
Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah Khan told Geo News TV that "if the vehicle had reached its destination it would have caused heavy losses". The minister also said that security forces in Islamabad are on high alert due to threats from the TTP.
The capital's police have also stressed that they have long been under attack with the aim of "demoralising the security agencies". In mid-November, a TTP cell attacked a police patrol in Peshawar province, leaving six officers dead.
The Pakistani Taliban have intensified their attacks since the end of the truce with the government last month. Following the end of the ceasefire, reached in June, the TTP ordered attacks across the country. "As military operations are ongoing against the mujahideen in different areas, it is imperative that they carry out attacks wherever they can across the country," the organisation said in a statement.
اسلام آباد کے آئی ٹین میں دھماکہ پولیس والوں نے ٹیکسی روکی تلاشی لینے پر خود کش حملہ آور نے خود کو اڑا دیا ایک پولیس اہلکار شہید۔ ابتدائی اطلاع #Islamabad #blast pic.twitter.com/4iECMYpBA6
— Arif Mehmood (@ArifMehmoodPAK) December 23, 2022
The terrorist group has already claimed responsibility for this latest attack. The TTP has indicated that the attack was carried out to "avenge" the recent assassination of one of its leaders. A few days ago, Pakistani security forces killed 25 members of the organisation who had barricaded themselves with hostages in an anti-terrorist centre in the town of Bannu.
Shortly after the operation, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said on his Twitter account that the resurgence of terrorism represents "a renewed threat" to Pakistan's national security. In this sense, the government has warned the Taliban regime in Afghanistan that if it does not confront the TTP "bilateral relations could be damaged", according to Europa Press.
In the words of Pakistan's Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, quoted by the news agency, Islamabad "will not turn a blind eye if it is found that the Taliban are not stopping the TTP".
The threat posed by the TTP is one of the current challenges facing the region, which already has to cope with the instability caused by the Taliban in Afghanistan. "The TTP is exploiting the weakness of the government and the political turmoil in Islamabad," writes Lynne O'Donnell in Foreign Policy. "Just the idea of a TTP comeback is spreading terror as people remember the horrors of the past: shootings, bombings, kidnappings, rapes, beheadings," she adds.
