The Pakistani Taliban on Saturday claimed responsibility for deadly attacks in several northwestern districts that killed 20 security officials and three civilians.
The attacks, which included a suicide bombing on a police training school, were carried out on Friday in several districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province that borders Afghanistan.
Militancy has surged in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa since the withdrawal of US-led troops from neighboring Afghanistan in 2021 and the return of the Taliban government in Kabul.
Eleven paramilitary troops were killed in the border Khyber district, while seven policemen were killed after a suicide bomber rammed an explosives-laden car into the gate of a police training school, which was followed by a gun attack.
Five people, including three civilians, were killed in a separate clash in Bajaur district, security officials told AFP on Saturday.
The Pakistani Taliban, the Tehreek-e-Taliban (TTP), claimed responsibility for the attacks in messages on social media. The group is separate to but closely linked with the Afghan Taliban.
The attacks came hours after Afghanistan's Taliban government accused Pakistan of "violating Kabul's sovereign territory,” a day after two explosions were heard in the capital.
Pakistan did not say if it was behind the blasts in Kabul but said it had the right to defend itself against surging border militancy.
Islamabad accuses Afghanistan of failing to expel militants using Afghan territory to launch attacks on Pakistan, an accusation that authorities in Kabul deny.
The TTP and its affiliates are behind most of the violence -- largely directed at security forces.
Including Friday's attacks at least 32 Pakistani troops and three civilians have been killed this week alone in the border regions.
