Pakistani Taliban claims deaths of dozens of security forces since February

The Pakistani Taliban (TTP) claims that it has carried out 29 attacks in Pakistan in February, killing 57 members of the security forces and injuring 70 in various regions.

A statement released by the group  on Wednesday said that among those it had killed and wounded were members of the Pakistani army, paramilitary forces and police.

TTP also said it had destroyed five army and one police patrol vehicles, as well as three police buildings.

Most of the attacks were carried out in the Tribal Areas and northwest of the country, according to the statement.

Pakistan's government has not responded to the TTP statement but it declared a state of high alert in the country's capital, Islamabad, on Thursday, amid a threat of terror attacks.

Gatherings have been banned outside courts and important government buildings, police said in a statement.

Pakistan has witnessed a wave of violence since the end of a ceasefire with the TTP in November, particularly in the north and southwestern areas bordering Afghanistan. 

Defence Minister Khawaja Asif raised concerns about TTP strongholds in Afghanistan during a trip to Kabul in February, charging that the bases are being used to plan attacks on Pakistan.

The Afghan Taliban rejected the claims and warned against attacks on Afghan soil, according to Pakistani media reports.

The Afghan Taliban defence minister Mullah Mohammad Yaqub stressed that any violations of Afghan territory would have serious consequences. 

The TTP, which is separate from the Afghan Taliban but shares a similar hardline Islamist ideology, emerged in Pakistan in 2007 and carried out a wave of violent attacks that was largely crushed by a military operation launched in late 2014.

But attacks – mostly targeting security forces – have been on the rise again since the Afghan Taliban seized control of Kabul in August 2021 and a shaky months-long ceasefire between the TTP and Islamabad ended late in 2022.