SRINAGAR : At least 13 people, including two women and two children, were killed and 30 others injured after a suicide bomber rammed an explosives-laden tractor-trolley into a joint police and customs checkpost in northwest Pakistan on Saturday, officials said.
The attack took place in the Aman Mela area of Darazinda tehsil in Dera Ismail Khan district, near the boundary between Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan provinces, according to Rescue 1122.
Regional Police Officer Khan Mubashir Malik said the bomber targeted the checkpost, which had been established along the Dera Ismail Khan-Quetta road to curb smuggling and monitor the movement of goods.
The powerful explosion destroyed a major portion of the checkpost and completely demolished a nearby house, officials said.
A security official said those killed included the suicide bomber, six officials of the excise and customs departments, two policemen, two women and two children.
The injured were shifted to the District Headquarters Hospital, where the bodies were also taken.
Police said bomb disposal teams were sent to the site to ascertain the type and quantity of explosives used in the attack. Security forces subsequently cordoned off the area and launched a search operation.
The banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) claimed responsibility for the attack.
In a separate incident linked to the blast, two Rescue 1122 workers were killed and another seriously injured when an ambulance carrying bodies recovered from the attack site came under fire from unidentified assailants near Aman Mela, Rescue 1122 said.
No group has claimed responsibility for the attack on the ambulance.
State-run Radio Pakistan attributed the main attack to “Fitna al Khwarij”, a term used by the Pakistani government for the TTP.
President Asif Ali Zardari condemned the blast and expressed grief over the loss of lives.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Faisal Karim Kundi also condemned the attack and sought a report from the concerned officials, while Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi expressed condolences to the families of those killed.
“The cowardly acts of khwarjis cannot weaken the nation’s firm resolve against terrorism,” Naqvi said.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has witnessed repeated militant attacks in recent years amid a broader security crisis involving militant activity, cross-border movement of fighters from Afghanistan and military operations.
The TTP has carried out a series of attacks in the province since its ceasefire agreement with the Pakistani government ended in November 2022.
