8 Pakistani soldiers killed, 7 police officers abducted

Authorities in northwestern Pakistan reported Monday that militants ambushed a military convoy near the border with Afghanistan and killed at least eight soldiers.

The attack occurred in Khyber, a volatile border district in the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, targeting soldiers returning to their base after a counterinsurgency operation.

The ambush left at least three soldiers injured, one of whom is in “serious” condition, multiple security officials said. They spoke anonymously to VOA because they were not authorized to discuss the details with the media. The ensuing clashes reportedly also left several assailants dead.

The Pakistan military’s media wing did not immediately comment on the deadly attack or the reported casualties that followed.

Separately, dozens of heavily armed men stormed a security outpost in the province’s militancy-hit Bannu district Monday evening, taking seven armed police officers hostage. Police officials in the area reported that an operation to track down the assailants and rescue the abducted personnel was under way.

Several districts in the Pakistani border province, including Khyber and Bannu, routinely experience attacks on security forces, which are mostly attributed to or claimed by the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP, an outlawed militant group