An army soldier examines damages on the site of a bombing at a police station on the outskirts of Dera Ismail Khan, Pakistan, Tuesday, Dec. 12, 2023. A suicide bomber detonated his explosive-laden vehicle at a police station's main gate in northwest Pakistan on Tuesday, killing several policemen and wounding more than dozen others, officials said. Some militants also opened fire and a shootout between them and security forces was still ongoing, police officer Kamal Khan said. (AP Photo)
A Pakistani soldier examines damage at the site of a bombing at a police station near Dera Ismail Khan on Tuesday, December 12, 2023.
AP
Islamabad, Pakistan CNN  — 

Twenty-three Pakistani soldiers were killed Tuesday when a six-man suicide squad attempted to drive a truck full of explosives into a military camp in Pakistan’s northwestern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK), according to the army.

The attack is the deadliest on the country’s armed forces this year. Other assaults on Tuesday in the Dera Ismail Khan District of KPK province left 54 militants dead, according to the military.

In a post on X (formerly Twitter), caretaker Interior Minister Sarfraz Bugti condemned the “terrorist attack on the police station” and expressed deep sorrow over the loss of life.

Islamic militant group Tehreek e Jihad Pakistan (TJP) has claimed responsibility for the attack.

The incident comes less than two months before Pakistan’s general election, in a year that has seen a sharp rise in militant attacks across the country.