- Suicide bomb killed 13 at Dera Ismail Khan police checkpoint.
- Gunmen attacked ambulance, killing one rescue worker.
- Pakistani Taliban (TTP) claimed responsibility for the attack.
Islamabad/New Delhi: What could be more tragic than what was witnessed in Pakistan when Gunmen opened fire on an ambulance attending the scene of a suicide bomb attack at a roadside police checkpoint that killed at least 13 people on Saturday and wounded about 35 others. The attack involving an explosives-laden vehicle occurred in Dera Ismail Khan, a district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, said Bilal Faizi, a spokesman for the provincial emergency service. Local police chief Safdar Baloch said most of those killed and wounded were security personnel and passersby.
The blast destroyed the sprawling checkpoint, and witnesses said gunshots were also heard after the attack.
Faizi said gunmen opened fire on an ambulance as emergency crews transported victims to a nearby hospital, killing a rescue worker and wounding two others. Two women and a child were among those killed in the suicide bombing, he said.
Checkpost to curb smuggling attacked
According to news agency PTI, the checkpost had been set up to curb smuggling and check the illegal movement of goods along the Dera Ismail Khan-Quetta road. The blast destroyed a large portion of the checkpost and completely demolished a nearby house, killing four people, including two children.
Overall, 13 people were killed, including the suicide bomber, six excise and customs department officials, two policemen, two women and two children, a security officer said, adding that 30 sustained injuries.
The injured were shifted to the District Headquarters Hospital for treatment, while the bodies were also taken there. Bomb disposal teams were dispatched to the site to determine the nature of the explosives used in the attack, police said.
TTP claimed responsibility for attack
The Pakistani Taliban, formerly known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP, claimed responsibility for the attack. Pakistan has experienced a surge in militant violence in recent years, much of it claimed by the TTP and the outlawed Baloch Liberation Army, a separatist group primarily active in neighbouring Balochistan province.
The TTP is separate from but closely allied with Afghanistan’s Taliban, which returned to power in 2021.
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Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif condemned the attack and offered condolences to the victims’ families.
Zardari described the targeting of civilians and law enforcement personnel as “highly condemnable” and called for intensified action against the Pakistani Taliban, which he accused of carrying out “heinous and brutal acts” with foreign support.
Pakistani officials have repeatedly accused Afghanistan’s Taliban government of allowing TTP members to operate from Afghan territory and have demanded that Kabul prevent cross-border attacks. Afghan authorities deny permitting their territory to be used for attacks against other countries.
Recent attacks
Saturday’s bombing came two days after fighting along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border killed at least 13 Afghan Taliban fighters, according to Pakistan’s government. The clash followed Pakistani strikes this week on suspected militant hideouts inside Afghanistan.
The renewed hostilities threaten mediation efforts by China, Turkey, Qatar and Saudi Arabia aimed at securing lasting peace between the neighbouring countries.
Dera Ismail Khan is near South Waziristan, a former militant stronghold where Pakistan’s military has conducted several operations in recent years. Militants frequently target security forces in the region. 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 area’s deadliest attacks. Tehreek-e-Jihad Pakistan, a small militant group believed to be an offshoot of the TTP, claimed responsibility.
(With inputs from agencies)