On 15 December 2023, militant attacks were launched against the Pakistan Army and local police in Tank, Pakistan. Ansar ul-Islam claimed responsibility for the attack. The attacks occurred at a police station in Tank District, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.[1]
| 2023 Tank district attack | |
| Location: | Tank, Tank District, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan |
| Date: | 15 December 2023 |
| Partof: | Insurgency in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa |
| Target: | Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Police Pakistan Army |
| Type: | Mass shooting; gun battle |
| Fatalities: | 5 Pakistani personnel 5 militants |
| Injuries: | 3 wounded |
| Perpetrators: | Ansar ul-Islam |
| Dfens: | Local police Pakistan Army |
On the morning of 15 December 2023, militants attacked a police station in Tank district however were repelled by local police, with the militants engaged in a gun battle for hours with the local police.[2] The attack just come days after the Daraban police station attack, Pakistan's deadliest terrorist attack in 2023. Local police chief Iftikhar Shah stated that 5 police officers and 5 militants were killed in the exchange, with another 3 wounded.[3] In a statement, Shah stated, "Our force on guard engaged them in a gun battle for hours,". Akhtar Hayat, chief of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Police announced that the remaining militants involved in the attacks were being searched for, saying, "We are searching for the rest of them, including two who suffered wounds,".[4] On the same day, the Pakistani Taliban launched an attack on a Pakistani army base near the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, with 2 security personnel killed in an attack in the Khyber District, and another 7 injured.[5]
Ansar ul-Islam, a relatively newly active militant group, claimed responsibility for the attack as their first attack. The attack came days after the Daraban police station attack.
There has been a surge in terror attacks in Pakistan in 2023 amid a resurgence of the Pakistani Taliban and heightened tensions between Afghanistan and Pakistan, with the Pakistani government accusing Afghanistan of harboring militants and with militants using Afghan territory to launch attacks, although the Afghan government denies this.[6] [7] The attack also comes amidst the mass deportation of Afghans by the Pakistani government.[8]