Pakistan checkpoint bombing kills at least 11
Police say around 30 people were wounded when an explosives-laden vehicle detonated at a roadside checkpoint in Dera Ismail Khan. The Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility.
At least 11 people were killed and around 30 wounded in a suicide bombing at a police checkpoint in Dera Ismail Khan, north-western Pakistan, authorities said. Police said the bomber detonated an explosives-laden vehicle at the roadside post on Saturday.
Many of the wounded were security personnel and passers-by, a police official said. Some were in a critical condition. Rescue 1122 teams treated the injured and transported them to hospital.
The Pakistani Taliban, also known as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), claimed responsibility in a statement. The claim has not been independently established in the material provided.
Dera Ismail Khan is in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, a province bordering Afghanistan that has repeatedly experienced militant violence. Deutsche Welle reports a wider rise in attacks in Pakistan in recent years, many claimed by the TTP or the Baloch Liberation Army.
The bombing came two days after fighting along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border killed at least 13 Afghan Taliban members, according to Deutsche Welle. Pakistan accuses Kabul of allowing TTP members to operate from Afghan territory; Afghanistan’s Taliban deny this.
