Status: 12/20/2022 6:37 p.m
In Pakistan, soldiers have broken up a hostage situation in a prison, killing many hostage-takers. Extremists had stormed the facility to force Taliban fighters to leave for Afghanistan.
Pakistani military has ended a hostage situation at a prison for imprisoned terrorists. Defense Minister Khawaja Asif said in parliament that special forces had killed 33 hostage-takers during the rescue operation in the unrest-ridden north-western province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. When the facility was stormed, two soldiers were killed and several prisoners and security forces were injured.
Extremists wanted to leave for Afghanistan
The actual liberation operation lasted a good hour, the taking of hostages much longer: militant extremists had already stormed the prison on Sunday and taken several security forces into their power.
The attackers wanted to free prisoners and force them to leave the country unmolested in neighboring Afghanistan, which has been under the control of the Islamist Taliban again since August 2021. According to security sources, the hostage-takers included supporters of the Pakistani Taliban (TTP).
The military operation was preceded by failed negotiations. A long firefight followed, and explosions could also be heard, said a police officer. On the night of Tuesday, Pakistani soldiers also fended off attempts by dozens of attackers to storm a military post.
Increased attacks on security forces
The Taliban in Pakistan are allied with the Afghan Taliban but act independently. They have been fighting the government in Islamabad for 15 years and have increased their attacks on security forces since November. At the end of November, the Pakistani Taliban declared the ceasefire agreed with the government in Islamabad in May to be over and called on their fighters to carry out attacks.
The TTP is an umbrella organization of militant Islamist groups that is said to have several thousand fighters. The Pakistani military expelled them to Afghanistan between 2008 and 2014. Since the Afghan Taliban took power in Kabul, the TTP has regrouped in its former strongholds on the Afghan border.