The Pakistani Taliban claimed a brazen overnight raid on an army outpost near the border with Afghanistan on Saturday, which intelligence officials said killed 16 soldiers and critically wounded five more. The siege started after midnight and lasted about two hours as around 30 militants pummelled the mountainous outpost from three sides, one senior intelligence official told AFP on condition of anonymity. "Sixteen soldiers were martyred and five were critically injured in the assault," he said. "The militants set fire to the wireless communication equipment, documents and other items present at the checkpoint."
A second intelligence official also anonymously confirmed the toll of dead and wounded in the attack in the Makeen area of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, 40 kilometres (24 miles) from the Afghan border. Pakistan's domestic chapter of the Taliban claimed the attack in a statement, saying it was staged "in retaliation for the martyrdom of our senior commanders".
The group claimed to have seized a hoard of military gear including machine guns and a night vision device. Pakistan's military has not yet issued a statement on the incident.
Pakistan has been battling a resurgence of militant violence in its western border regions since the Taliban's 2021 return to power in Afghanistan. Last year saw casualties hit a six-year high, with more than 1,500 civilians, security forces and militants killed, according to the Islamabad-based Center for Research and Security Studies.
Saturday's attack was "the most dangerous assault in this region this year" according to the first intelligence official.
Islamabad accuses Kabul's rulers of failing to root out militants staging attacks on Pakistan from over the border. The Pakistani Taliban -- known as Tehreek–e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) -- share a common ideology with their Afghan counterparts who surged back to power three years ago. Kabul's new rulers have pledged to evict foreign militant groups from Afghan soil.
But a UN Security Council report in July estimated up to 6,500 TTP fighters are based there -- and said "the Taliban do not conceive of TTP as a terrorist group". The report said the Afghan Taliban show "ad hoc support to, and tolerance of, TTP operations, including the supplying of weapons and permission for training".
The spike in attacks has soured Islamabad-Kabul relations. Security was cited as one reason for Pakistan's campaign last year to evict hundreds of thousands of undocumented Afghan migrants.