A vehicle packed with explosives slammed into a roadside police post in Dera Ismail Khan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, on Saturday morning. The blast tore a crater in the asphalt, sending concrete fragments and shrapnel into the air, shattering the checkpoint’s barricades.
Local police chief Safdar Baloch said most of those injured were security personnel and passersby. He added that two women and a child were among the dead. Later, gunmen opened fire on an ambulance carrying victims to a nearby hospital, killing a rescue worker and injuring two others.
The attack follows a spike in TTP activity across the province. In December 2023, a suicide bomber killed at least 23 security personnel at the main gate of a police station in the same district. The Pakistani Taliban, separate but allied with the Afghan Taliban, has claimed responsibility for several high‑profile attacks in recent months.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif condemned the violence and vowed that the state would not tolerate such attacks. The Afghan government denied that its territory was being used as a launchpad for cross‑border insurgents.
In response, security agencies announced a comprehensive review of checkpoint protocols and will convene a joint task force with Afghan counterparts to curb cross‑border insurgency. The next court hearing on the case is scheduled for next month.