Suicide attack at Pakistan checkpoint kills 11, TTP claims responsibility
A vehicle-borne suicide bomber struck a police checkpoint in Dera Ismail Khan in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, killing at least 11 people and injuring about 30, officials said. The Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility as tensions between Pakistan and Afghanistan have intensified after recent border fighting and strikes.
A suicide bomber detonated an explosives-laden vehicle at a roadside police checkpoint in Dera Ismail Khan, northwestern Pakistan, killing at least 11 people and injuring about 30, officials said. The attack took place on Saturday in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, according to Bilal Faizi, a spokesman for the provincial emergency service. Local police chief Safdar Baloch said most of the dead and wounded were security personnel and passers-by.
The Pakistani Taliban, or Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, claimed responsibility in a statement. The supplied material does not give further details about the attacker or the circumstances preceding the explosion. The incident comes amid a wider rise in militant violence in Pakistan.
Many attacks in recent years have been claimed by the TTP or by the Baloch Liberation Army, a separatist organisation mainly active in neighbouring Balochistan province. The TTP is separate from, but allied with, the Afghan Taliban, which returned to power in Afghanistan in 2021. Pakistani officials have repeatedly accused the Afghan Taliban of allowing TTP members to operate from Afghan territory and have demanded action against cross-border attacks.
Afghan authorities have denied allowing their territory to be used for attacks against other countries. The bombing followed fighting between Pakistan and Afghanistan along their southwestern border two days earlier. Pakistan’s government said at least 13 Afghan Taliban members were killed in that fighting.
The renewed hostilities came after Pakistani strikes on alleged militant hideouts inside Afghanistan. The escalation threatens mediation efforts by China, Turkey, Qatar and Saudi Arabia aimed at securing lasting peace between the neighbours. Dera Ismail Khan lies near South Waziristan, a former militant stronghold where security forces have conducted operations and where attacks on security personnel are frequent.
In December 2023, a vehicle-borne suicide attack at a police station in the district killed at least 23 security personnel. That attack was claimed by Tehreek-e-Jihad Pakistan, described in the supplied material as a small group believed to be linked to the TTP.
This independently written report is based on information supplied by the named publisher. Vertrix News has not independently verified the source report.