At least 12 people were killed and around 35 others wounded on Saturday when a suicide bomber detonated an explosives-laden vehicle at a roadside police checkpoint in northwestern Pakistan, police and rescue officials said.Also Read: Explosive-laden truck rams into mosque near police offices in Pakistan’s Kohat; 21 deadThe attack took place in Dera Ismail Khan, a district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. Local police chief Safdar Baloch said most of the injured were security personnel and passersby, with some in critical condition.According to Baloch, gunmen later opened fire on an ambulance carrying victims to a nearby hospital, killing a rescue worker and injuring two others.Two women and a child were also among those killed in the suicide bombing, he added.
Pakistani Taliban claims responsibility
The Pakistani Taliban, or Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), claimed responsibility for the attack. The TTP is separate from, but allied with, the Afghan Taliban, which returned to power in Afghanistan in 2021 after the US withdrew its troops.Pakistan has witnessed a surge in militant attacks in recent years, many of them claimed by the TTP and the outlawed Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), a separatist group primarily active in neighbouring Balochistan province.
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Islamabad has repeatedly accused the Afghan Taliban of allowing TTP members to operate from Afghan soil and have demanded that Kabul prevent cross-border attacks into Pakistan. Afghan authorities have denied allowing their territory to be used for attacks against other countries.Dera Ismail Khan is near South Waziristan, a former militant stronghold where the Pakistani military has carried out several operations in recent years.In December 2023, a suicide bomber detonated an explosives-laden vehicle at the main gate of a police station in Dera Ismail Khan, killing at least 23 security personnel in one of the deadliest attacks in the area. It was claimed by Tehreek-e-Jihad Pakistan, a small militant group believed to be an offshoot of the TTP.(With AP inputs)