Seven members of the Pakistani security forces were killed in two separate attacks near the Afghan border, the Pakistani Army said on Sunday.
The Army said in the first attack, an improvised explosive device targeted a vehicle of a bomb disposal squad in the Datta Khel area of North Waziristan province on Saturday.
Following the blast, the militants opened fire. Five members of the security forces were killed and two wounded.
In the second attack, militants stormed a checkpoint in the Mir Ali region and killed two soldiers.
Pakistan has seen an increase in attacks by the Pakistani Taliban since their Afghan counterparts seized power in Afghanistan in 2021.
Meanwhile, officials in the High Commission for Migrant Affairs said more than 200 Afghan migrant families have returned to the country after being deported by Iran and Pakistan.
According to the report, the returnees from Iran and Pakistan arrived on Friday, the Afghani Khaama Press news agency said.
The High Commission said the returnees arrived through the Torkham, Spin Boldak, Pul-e Abrisham, and Islam Qala crossings.
This came as Pakistan, Iran and Türkiye have recently increased the deportation of Afghan citizens.
Pakistan had begun to deport unregistered Afghan refugees back to Afghanistan last November. The deportation of Afghans aims to put more pressure on the Taliban government, which Islamabad accuses of not seriously dealing with fighters, who carry out deadly cross-border attacks.
Separately, the Pakistani police announced last Thursday that unidentified gunmen shot and killed six workers in Pakistan’s southwestern province of Balochistan, in a region where militants have long waged ethnic violence against outsiders.
The men were killed late Wednesday at their home, 25 kilometers from Gwadar in Balochistan province where major Chinese investment has funded a deepwater port.
“We are investigating the matter at the moment but apparently it looks like they were attacked because they were Punjabis,” Muhammad Mohsin, a senior police official in Gwadar, told AFP.
Punjabis is a majority ethnic group in Pakistan.They are the largest ethnic group of Pakistan.
