Security forces have regained the control of a check post at Kharkai in Lower Dir near the Afghan border which was attacked by hundreds of Taliban militants on Thursday, killing 13 security personnel and wounding seven others.
Meanwhile, Tehrik-e-Taliban Malakand Division has accepted the responsibility for the attack.
Frontier Corps (FC) officials say around 200 militants crossed into Pakistani territory from Afghanistan and attacked the border posts of Dir Levies, police and the Kharkai check point of FC in the wee hours. The attackers, armed with sophisticated weapons, killed 13 security men including nine of FC, two policemen and one levies guard.
The forces launched a retaliatory action and were reinforced with the arrival of additional troops while gunship helicopters provided the air cover. Later, the attackers fled the scene and the security forces retook the control of the area.
According to local residents, heavy contingents of security personnel are patrolling the area after imposition of curfew. They also informed that the militants also ambushed the security forces’ convoy moving forward to help the forces in the area.
Kharkai, a remote part of District Lower Dir, is located eight to 10 kilometres from the Pak-Afghan border. It is important to note that Lower Dir and Chitral are the only districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, which border Afghanistan.
Umar Hassan Arabi, introducing himself as a spokesman for Tehrik-e-Taliban Malakand Division, claimed that they carried out the attack during which dozens of troops were killed and many vehicles had been torched.
On the other hand, the AFP reported that 16 members of paramilitary forces in the one of deadliest attack on the Pakistani forces. It quoted an official who said that 14 security personnel died in the ambush on the check post while two more were killed in a subsequent attack on troops later sent to reinforce the position. Local police official Saleem Marwat told AFP that dozens of militants had seized control of the post on Thursday afternoon for the second time, after troops had managed to recapture their outpost overnight.
