An explosives-laden vehicle was rammed into a security checkpost in northwestern Pakistan on Thursday night, which killed 15 people, including soldiers, police and government personnel, the army said on Friday. In retaliation for the attack, 12 extremists were killed.
The extremists drove the explosive-laden vehicle into its outer wall of the checkpoint after they failed to breach the security, the army said. NDTV reported.
The incident happened in the Tank district of northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, which borders Afghanistan.
"Fifteen brave sons of soil including twelve military, two policemen and a government official ex forest department rendered the ultimate sacrifice and embraced Shahadat (martyrdom)," the army said in a statement.
"The attackers rammed an explosive-laden vehicle into the perimeter wall," the statement said. "Due to blast impact, infrastructure at check post was seriously damaged."
Local Taliban militants, also known as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, claimed responsibility for the attack, saying four suicide bombers took part in it, according to a statement.
Militancy has risen sharply in northwest Pakistan in recent months.
Pakistan has previously blamed the increase in attacks in KP and the southern border province of Balochistan on extremism emanating from Afghanistan, where the Taliban government denies Afghan involvement.
