No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.

However, such incidents have intensified after the outlawed group Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP, ended a ceasefire with the government in Islamabad and ordered its fighters to launch attacks across the country.

The Pakistani Taliban is a separate group, but also a close ally of the Afghan Taliban, who seized power in neighboring Afghanistan in August 2021 as US and NATO forces entered the final stages of their withdrawal from the country after 20 years of war. found country.

Many TTP leaders and fighters have found refuge and even live openly in Afghanistan since the Taliban takeover, which has also encouraged the TTP.

Dogar Umerzai is located in Bannu district, which has been targeted by militants in recent weeks.

Last month, 33 TTP fighters detained by Bannu’s Counter Terrorism Department seized the compound and took the staff hostage. The Pakistani army’s response left 25 militants dead.

TTP chief Mufti Noor Wali Mehsud in a video message urged Pakistan’s religious clerics to stop calling his group a terrorist organization. He said the TTP is still adhering to the ceasefire in accordance with mediation by the Taliban-led government in Afghanistan.

Pakistan’s National Security Committee has ruled out negotiations with militants and said it will take tough action against them.

The anti-terrorism department of Pakistan’s Punjab province on Saturday arrested five people suspected of having TTP links.

The operation foiled a terror attack in the cities of Lahore, Gujranwala and Sahiwal, according to the ministry. Explosives, weapons and equipment to make suicide vests were recovered.