RAWALPINDI, A security forces convoy was targeted in a suicide attack in Bannu district on Saturday during an intelligence-based operation against militants, according to a statement issued by the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR).

The military’s media wing said troops were conducting an operation on reports of the presence of militants, including a suspected suicide bomber, when the convoy came under attack.

According to the statement, the leading group of the convoy intercepted a vehicle-borne suicide bomber, thwarting what officials described as a planned attack on civilians and law enforcement personnel in Bannu city and averting a “major catastrophe.”

During the ensuing exchange of fire, security forces killed five militants. However, in what ISPR termed a “desperate act,” another attacker rammed an explosives-laden vehicle into one of the vehicles in the leading group.

As a result, Lt Col Shahzada Gul Faraz, 43, a resident of Mansehra district and the commanding officer leading the operation, was martyred. Sepoy Karamat Shah, 28, a resident of Peshawar district, also embraced martyrdom in the attack.
ISPR described Lt Col Faraz as a brave officer known for leading his troops from the front.

The statement alleged that the attackers, referred to as “Fitna al Khwarij,” were operating from Afghan soil and accused the Afghan Taliban regime of failing to prevent the use of its territory for attacks inside Pakistan. It added that operations would continue against those responsible “irrespective of their location.”

The military reaffirmed that the counterterrorism campaign under the vision of “Azm-e-Istehkam,” approved by the Federal Apex Committee on the National Action Plan, would continue at full pace to eliminate what it described as foreign-sponsored terrorism from the country.

Security forces have intensified intelligence-based operations in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in recent months amid a spike in militant violence, particularly in southern districts such as Bannu.