There have been two separate armed attacks on a military base and a medical center in northwestern Pakistan.

As reported by Reuters, the incident killed 28 people, including 10 military personnel.

A Pakistani army statement on the incident said nurses and children were also among the victims.

It is noted that both attacks coincided with the intensification activities of armed radical religious groups based in the northwestern part of the country’s border with Afghanistan.

 

In the first incident, Islamist militants attacked a military base in northwestern Pakistan, killing eight security personnel, the military said. This happened after a suicide bomber crashed a  car bomb into the perimeter wall of the base. The militants targeted a base in Bannu, bordering the North Waziristan tribal area, which is known as a hotbed of Islamist militancy and is close to the border with Afghanistan. Security forces eliminated all 10 attackers, the statement said.

Those killed in Monday's attack included seven army troops and one paramilitary fighter.

 

The British colonial-era military base has historically been used as a foothold for anti-terrorism operations and is surrounded by civilian homes that were damaged by Monday's powerful explosion, two local officials told Reuters. They said the initial explosion was used to destroy the perimeter wall and allow other militants to enter the base.

Responsibility for the attack was claimed by the Hafiz Gul Bahadur group, which, according to the military, operates from the territory of neighboring Afghanistan, “orchestrating terrorist attacks in Pakistan.”

Islamabad says it regularly raises the issue of cross-border attacks with the Taliban administration, which denies allowing that Afghan territory is used for attacks.

In a second, separate attack, five civilians, including two female doctors and two children, were killed in an attack on a medical facility in Dera Ismail Khan district. In the ensuing clashes, two Pakistani soldiers were killed and all three attacking militants were eliminated.

No group has yet claimed responsibility for the second attack.