Amid escalating border tensions with India, Pakistan’s military is grappling with a surge in militant violence. At least 20 Pakistani soldiers were killed and five injured in a coordinated assault by the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) in South Waziristan, according to reports. The militant group claimed responsibility for the deadly attack on the military’s Dawngate outpost in the Shakai subdivision, which began Thursday night.
The TTP stated that the assault was part of a multi-phase operation, beginning with sniper fire using laser-guided rifles that killed six soldiers. A military convoy sent to reinforce the outpost was also ambushed. Attacks extended to other areas including Turbat—where militants used grenades in the D Baloch area—and Quetta, where Pakistani army positions in Hazarganji and Faizabad were targeted with explosives.
Separately, two Pakistani soldiers were killed in a clash with Baloch insurgents. This attack came just days after a Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) IED explosion in Bolan that killed eight troops. Another deadly ambush the week prior in Quetta claimed the lives of 10 soldiers.
Pakistan now finds itself facing simultaneous threats on multiple fronts: increased cross-border tensions with India, a renewed TTP campaign dubbed “Operation Khandak,” and a wave of ambushes and attacks by Baloch fighters employing snipers and explosives.
In a statement, TTP spokesperson Muhammad Khorasani accused the Pakistani army of betraying jihadist groups, including allegedly leaking the location of Jaish-e-Mohammed’s Bahawalpur headquarters—later targeted in an Indian airstrike under “Operation Sindoor” that killed 14 people, including relatives of JeM founder Masood Azhar.
Khorasani further condemned the Pakistan army as a “pro-Western” force working against national interests and referenced the U.S. operation that killed Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad, accusing the army of cooperating with foreign powers.
On Friday evening, Baloch separatist fighters launched another wave of attacks across Balochistan, targeting military personnel and infrastructure, signaling a sustained escalation in the insurgency.