According to police and security sources, an armed group raided the checkpoint in the Kurram tribal district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province during the night between Monday and Tuesday, triggering a heavy exchange of gunfire

By Asaye Bankole

Officials say that six soldiers were killed after an attack on a security checkpoint in northwest Pakistan.

According to police and security sources, an armed group raided the checkpoint in the Kurram tribal district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province during the night between Monday and Tuesday, triggering a heavy exchange of gunfire.

The attack comes at a time of rising tension along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border and threatens to escalate a series of recent clashes that have already left dozens dead.

According to the AFP news agency, the Pakistani Taliban (TTP) has claimed responsibility for the assault.

“Six security personnel were killed and four others were wounded, while two militants were also killed in the fighting,” a government official who requested anonymity told Newsmen.

Tensions have also been fuelled by issues beyond the fighting itself. Pakistan has intensified its large-scale expulsion of many of the Afghan refugees it had been hosting.

However, Islamabad announced last week that it would soon begin permitting United Nations aid shipments to pass through to Afghanistan.

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