A suicide bomber, backed by gunmen, attacked a security post in a district of Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, killing 11 soldiers and a child.The military said the attackers overnight had sought to breach the checkpoint but were thwarted by security forces. It added that troops later pursued and killed 12 “khwarij,” a term authorities use for the Pakistani Taliban, or TTP, reported AP.

The explosives-laden vehicle caused part of the compound to collapse and heavily damaged nearby civilian homes, killing a young girl and wounding seven other civilians, including women and children.The attack occurred Monday night in Bajaur, a district along the Afghan border that was once a stronghold of the Pakistani Taliban.Pakistan has witnessed a surge in violence in recent years, mostly blamed on the TTP. The group is separate from, but closely allied with, Afghanistan’s Taliban, who returned to power in 2021. The increase in attacks has strained relations between Islamabad and Kabul, as Pakistan accuses the TTP of operating freely inside Afghanistan, a charge both the TTP and Kabul deny.