Pakistan’s military says that an early morning suicide attack on one of its regional bases near the Afghan border left four assailants and two soldiers dead.
The heavily armed group of bombers tried to enter the Ghalani camp in the Mohmand tribal district and attack a packed mosque in a residential area, according to an official statement.
It said that security forces engaged them and contained them in the outer courtyard of the mosque, killing two attackers while the other two blew themselves up during an intense gunbattle.
The military confirmed the encounter left two of its personnel dead and another 14 wounded.
An extremist group fighting alongside the anti-state Pakistani Taliban claimed it was behind the assault.
The so-called Jamaat-ul-Ahrar faction claimed in a statement sent to reporters that the Pakistan military camp was targeted because it serves as a detention and torture center for captured Taliban fighters and their relatives.
The group has staged multiple attacks in Pakistan, targeting civilians, religious minorities and security forces.
Pakistani authorities allege the group is sheltering and operating out of border areas in Afghanistan with the help of the neighboring country’s intelligence agency.
Kabul denies the charges.
The United States earlier this year added Jamaat-ul-Ahrar to its list of global terrorist organizations after it claimed responsibility for a attack on the U.S. consulate in Peshawar.
The violence killed two Pakistani employees of the diplomatic facility.
