(4 Mar 2025)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Bannu, Pakistan – 4 March 2025
1. Zoom in of smoke of twin blasts at a military facility in Bannu ++DUSK SHOT++
++NIGHT SHOTS++
2. Patients arriving at Bannu District Hospital
3. Wounded people on stretchers
4. SOUNDBITE (Urdu) Muhammad Noman, Bannu District Hospital spokesperson:
“It was iftar time, I mean around 6:30p.m. to 6:45 p.m. (local time, 1330-1345GMT) when two blasts took place in Bannu. Because of this, buildings and houses near the neighborhood were badly damaged and we are receiving casualties here in GHQ (Bannu District Hospital) Bannu. So far we have received five dead bodies and 10 others wounded, who are receiving treatment in the emergency ward.”
5. Security and relatives outside emergency ward
STORYLINE:
Two suicide bombings breached a wall at a military base in northwestern Pakistan before other attackers stormed the compound and were repelled in violence that killed at least 12 people and wounded 30 others, according to officials and a local hospital.
A group affiliated with the Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack in Bannu, in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, and said that dozens of members of Pakistani security forces were killed.
The military didn’t immediately confirm any casualties, but Bannu District Hospital said that at least a dozen people were dead.
The two suicide bombers blew themselves up near the wall of the sprawling military area, a security official said on condition of anonymity, because he wasn’t authorized to speak with reporters.
“After a breach in the wall, five to six more attackers attempted to enter the cantonment, but were eliminated,” the security official said.
The attack happened after sunset, when people would have been breaking their fast during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
Jaish Al-Fursan claimed responsibility for the attack, the third militant assault in Pakistan since Ramadan started Sunday. In a statement, the group said the source of the blasts were explosive-laden vehicles.
Plumes of gray smoke rose into the air and gunshots continued after the two explosions, police officer Zahid Khan said. Four of those killed were children, hospital officials said. The victims lived close to the scene of the blasts.
A spokesman for Bannu District Hospital, Muhammad Noman, said that the evening blasts badly damaged homes and other buildings.
The blasts caused the roof of a nearby mosque to collapse while a number of worshippers were inside, rescue workers and provincial government spokesman Muhammad Ali Saif said.
Rescue workers trying to free people from underneath the rubble said that they had retrieved the body of the mosque’s imam.
Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif condemned the attack and expressed his grief over the loss of life. The chief minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Ali Amin Gandapur, ordered an inquiry.
Militants have targeted Bannu several times. Last November, a suicide car bomb killed 12 troops and wounded several others at a security post.
In July, a suicide bomber detonated his explosives-laden vehicle and other militants opened fire near the outer wall of the military facility.
AP video shot by Farhatullah Babar
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