An IED blast in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Bannu District resulted in 3 security personnel killed and 3 people including a civilian injured, Hanan (@hanansolo123) and Pakistan Defence (@PakDefence_) reported on X.

On 19 April, an IED planted by Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) militants targeting a security forces convoy detonated along the Indus Highway as the convoy was making its way from Peshawar to Bannu. The blast resulted in the deaths of 3 soldiers, while 3 people including 2 soldiers and a civilian were injured.

Rising intensity of terrorism in Pakistan

Terrorist attacks have seen a large increase in Pakistan, in both frequency and number of casualties, since the Taliban returned to power in Afghanistan in 2021. Terrorist groups such as the TTP and Hafiz Bahadur Gul (HGB) group continue to operate from within the territory of Afghanistan while receiving facilitation and support from the Taliban regime in Kabul.

At least 4000 Pakistani civilians and security forces personnel were killed in terrorist attacks throughout Pakistan since 2021, with the vast majority of the attacks and related casualties occurring in the provinces of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan. South Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, including the district of Bannu, have been especially hit hard by the drastic surge in terrorist attacks in recent years.

The sharp increase in terrorist attacks led to a drastic decline in relations between Pakistan and the Taliban regime in Afghanistan over the latter’s support and facilitation of cross-border terrorist attacks in the former’s territory and reluctance to act against the TTP militants who shelter in Afghanistan. The decline in relations have led to an increasingly intensifying border conflict between Pakistan and the Taliban regime, resulting in two border conflicts: in October 2025, and then again beginning in February of this year after a series of Taliban terrorist attacks, with hostilities continuing to this day.