At least four security personnel died while 24 were injured when a suicide bomber detonated his explosive-laden vehicle at a police station's main gate in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. Some militants also opened fire and a shootout between them and security forces was still ongoing. Pakistani Taliban group has claimed responsibility for the attack.
The terrorists rammed an explosive-laden vehicle into the building of the police station, which was followed by a mortar attack.
Some militants also opened fire and a shootout between them and security forces was still ongoing, police officer Kamal Khan said as quoted by Associated Press.
During the shootout, the police also gunned down two terrorists during the gunfight, according ARY News channel, as reported by PTI.
Police officer Kamal Khan said that the attack took place in Dera Ismail Khan, a city in the Afghan border region of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The province is a former stronghold of the militant Pakistani Taliban group, also known as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP, as reported by AP.
Meanwhile, this is not the first time the province has witnessed violence. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has witnessed a rise in violence with several deadly attacks. Earlier in January 2023, at least 101 people were killed when a suicide bomber targeted a mosque in Peshawar.
No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, but suspicion is likely to fall on the Pakistani Taliban, who have stepped up attacks on security forces since 2022. Authorities say the insurgents have become emboldened while living openly in Afghanistan since the Taliban takeover of that country in 2021.
The TTP, though a separate group, is closely allied with the Afghan Taliban.
Dera Ismail Khan is located near South Waziristan, a former sanctuary for militants. Pakistan’s army carried out multiple operations against militants there after some attacked an army-run school, killing more than 150 people, mostly school children, in 2014.
