Pakistan: PTI expresses concern over terrorist attacks after announcement of poll dates

A blast happened near a police convoy in Dera Ismail Khan city in Khyber Pankhtunkhwa/AP

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has raised concern over terrorist attacks on security forces days after the date of the general elections was announced, Pakistan-based Dawn reported.

PTI released the statement after nine terrorists were killed as security forces foiled a terrorist attack on the Mianwali Training Air Base of the Pakistan Air Force. Imran Khan-led party stressed introducing an effective national strategy to stop the attacks and avoid "more disastrous consequences".

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) expressed "deep concern" over the "alarming upsurge in tragic incidents of terrorism." It lauded the army for thwarting the attack on the Mianwali Air Base, according to Dawn report.

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In the statement, the party stressed that the attacks in different regions of Pakistan "were a cause of great concern" for the state. It raised questions over the new wave of terrorist attacks ahead of the general elections set to be held on February 8 next year.

PTI made it clear that only a representative government of the people had the authority and mandate to make decisions related to policy after the general elections were held in Pakistan.

The statement of PTI comes after 17 soldiers and five civilians were killed in terrorist attacks in Gwadar, Dera Ismail Khan and Lakki Marwat, according to Dawn report.

Furthermore, Pakistan's Army said that it foiled a terror attack at the Mianwali Training Air Base of the Pakistan Air Force in the Punjab province in the early hours of Saturday, Dawn reported. As many as nine terrorists were killed in a clearance operation after the terror attack was foiled at Mianwali Training Air Base of the Pakistan Air Force, the military's media wing said.

In an afternoon update, the military said that the "combing and clearance operation at PAF Training Airbase Mianwali has been concluded and all nine terrorists have been sent to hell."

It further said that the operation was launched to "eliminate any potential threat in the surrounding area following the cowardly and failed terrorist attack on the base this morning."

According to ISPR, no damage has been caused to any of the Pakistan Air Force's functional operational assets. It said that some damage was done to three already phased-out non-operational aircraft during the terrorist attack.

In an earlier statement released in the morning on Saturday, the ISPR said the attack on the air base had been foiled, with three terrorists "neutralised" and three others "cornered/isolated." It had been told that "some damage to three already grounded aircraft and a fuel bowser also occurred" during the attack.

ISPR said that it had initiated a "comprehensive joint clearance and combing operation" to clear the area of terrorists. The Tehreek-i-Jihad Pakistan (TJP), an affiliate of the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), claimed responsibility for the attack, according to the Dawn report.

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