At least 11 dead in suicide bomb blast near police post in northwestern Pakistan

At least 11 people were killed and around 30 others injured on Saturday when a suicide bomber detonated an explosives-laden vehicle at a roadside police checkpoint in northwestern Pakistan, police and rescue officials said.Also Read: Explosive-laden truck rams into mosque near police offices in Pakistan’s Kohat; 21 deadThe attack took place in Dera Ismail Khan, a district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. Some of the injured were reportedly in critical condition.The Pakistani Taliban, or Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement. The TTP is separate from, but allied with, the Afghan Taliban, which returned to power in Afghanistan in 2021.Pakistan has witnessed a surge in militant attacks in recent years, many of them claimed by the TTP and the outlawed Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), a separatist group primarily active in neighbouring Balochistan province.

Islamabad has repeatedly accused the Afghan Taliban of allowing TTP members to operate from Afghan soil and have demanded that Kabul prevent cross-border attacks into Pakistan. Afghan authorities have denied allowing their territory to be used for attacks against other countries.Dera Ismail Khan is near South Waziristan, a former militant stronghold where the Pakistani military has carried out several operations in recent years.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 deadliest attacks in the area. It was claimed by Tehreek-e-Jihad Pakistan, a small militant group believed to be an offshoot of the TTP.(With AP inputs)