An encounter with extremists in the northwest region of Pakistan on Tuesday resulted in the death of a Pakistani intelligence official and the injury of seven members of his squad, according to statements made by the Pakistani military.
Since the end of the previous year, the region has been subject to an increase in extremist attacks carried out by Islamic militants. One such attack was a devastating bombing of a mosque in the city of Peshawar, which resulted in the deaths of over one hundred persons, the majority of whom were police officers.
An encounter in South Waziristan, a mountainous region that borders Afghanistan and has for a long time been a breeding ground for Islamist militants, resulted in the death of Brigadier Mustafa Kamal Barki of the Inter Services Intelligence, the country’s primary intelligence agency. Barki was killed.
In a statement, the Inter Services Public Relations Pakistan, the military’s media wing, stated that intensive shooting had been exchanged with terrorists and that two of Barki’s team members were in serious condition as a result of the conflict.
Nobody has taken credit for the extremists’ attack.
The Islamist terrorist group Tehreek-e-Taliban (TTP), which vows its fealty to but is independent from the Taliban running neighbouring Afghanistan, has taken credit for the most of the attacks that have taken place in this province. Whereas the responsibility of this attack has not been taken by any group yet. The imposition of their particular interpretation of Sharia law within the country is believed to be TTP’s ultimate goal.
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