Authorities say 11 people were killed in a suicide bomb attack on a security post in northwestern Pakistan.

PESHAWAR, Pakistan — A suicide bomber detonated his explosives-laden vehicle at a security checkpoint in northwestern Pakistan, killing at least 11 security forces and wounding several others, four intelligence and security officials said Wednesday.

The attack, one of the deadliest in recent months, took place on Tuesday evening in Bannu, a district in the restive Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

In a statement, a faction of the Pakistani Taliban, known as the Hafiz Gul Bahadur group, claimed responsibility for the attack. The government had no immediate comment, but security and intelligence officials said security personnel were carrying out an operation targeting those who organized the attack.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to reporters.

Pakistan has been witnessing a steady increase in violence since November 2022 with the Pakistan Taliban ended a month-long ceasefire with the government in Islamabad.

The Pakistani Taliban, also known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan or TTP, are a separate group but are allies of the Afghan Taliban, who took power in Afghanistan in 2021. The Taliban’s takeover of power in Afghanistan has emboldened the TTP, whose top leaders and fighters are in hiding in Afghanistan.

In December 2023, a suicide bomber targeted the main gate of a police station in Dera Ismail Khan, a district in northwestern Pakistan, killing 23 soldiers.

Tuesday’s attack took place in Bannu while the country’s political and military leaders were meeting in Islamabad to discuss ways to respond to the rise in militant violence.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Tuesday approved a “comprehensive military operation” against separatist groups, including the Balochistan Liberation Army, in southwestern Balochistan province. The order was issued after the group’s November 9 suicide attack at a train station killed 26 people in Quetta, the provincial capital.

In recent months. violence has also increased in northwestern Pakistan, where security forces frequently target the TTP and the Gul Bahadur group.

Abdullah Khan, senior defense analyst and managing director of the Islamabad-based Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies, said that since 2022, when the TTP ended a ceasefire with the government, more than 900 soldiers have been killed in militant attacks in Pakistan.

“TTP and other groups have expanded their activities, showing that they are getting more recruits, money and weapons,” Khan said. He said political stability in the country was needed to defeat the insurgents.

Pakistan has been going through a political crisis since 2022, when then Prime Minister Imran Khan was ousted in a vote of no confidence in parliament. He was arrested and imprisoned in 2023. Since then, his supporters have been organizing protests demanding his release.