Video: Suicide bomber targets Pak checkpost, 4 security personnel dead

Ansar ul-Islam, an infamous Barelvi Sunni Islamist militant group, founded by Pir Saif-ur Rehman, claimed responsibility for the blast. The attacker was identified as Abu Darda.

A series of terrorist attacks in Pakistan took the lives of nine security personnel in provinces like Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. On February 24, a suicide terror attack targeting the Dajjal check post in the Punjab province killed four security personnel. In a separate incident, a group of unidentified militants attacked a police vehicle, killing five policemen and setting the vehicle on fire in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Kohat region on the same day.

A CCTV camera recorded the moments before the explosion in the Dajjal checkpost attack. It showed several security personnel roaming in the area when the blast suddenly took place. The authorities soon identified a person named Abu Darda as the suicide bomber.

It has come to light that Darda was a member of the Ansar ul-Islam, an infamous Barelvi Sunni Islamist militant group, founded by Pir Saif-ur Rehman, an Afghan Sufi preacher, in 2004. The organisation has claimed responsibility for the attack. This is the first time the group has taken responsibility for any terror attack in Pakistan.

In the Kohat attack, two civilians, along with five police officers, died, as per the statement of Mohsin Naqvi, Pakistan’s Federal Minister for Interior. However, no group has claimed responsibility for the attack yet.

The consecutive terror attacks came amid the country’s rising tensions with Afghanistan. A day before, the security forces of both countries engaged in fresh clashes in the border region, with both nations holding each other responsible for initiating the violence.

Following the terror attacks, Pakistan has raised its finger at Afghanistan. However, Afghanistan has denied responsibility for these attacks. They said that the attacks resulted from Pakistan’s internal problem of militancy.