AT least 12 people have been killed and 30 wounded in a suicide bombing at a roadside police checkpoint in northwestern Pakistan, police told Al Jazeera.
The attack took place on Saturday in the Dera Ismail Khan district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, local police said. Witnesses said gunshots were also heard after the blast.
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Police chief Safdar Baloch said most of those killed and wounded were security personnel and passersby. Officers, customs officials and members of the forest department were among the dead.
The injured include police officers, customs personnel and at least two civilians, police said.
The blast occurred near Aman Mela in the Darazinda area of the district, Rescue 1122 said in a statement.
Rescue teams from the Darazinda station reached the scene and began relief operations, providing medical assistance to the wounded and taking them to hospital, the service said.
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Al Jazeera’s Osama Bin Javaid, reporting from Islamabad, said an explosives-laden vehicle was rammed into the checkpoint.
No group immediately claimed responsibility, but suspicion fell on the Pakistan Taliban, known by the acronym TTP, our correspondent said.
The armed group and its affiliates have launched a number of recent attacks in the region.
The TTP is separate from but closely allied with the Afghan Taliban, which returned to power in Afghanistan in 2021.
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Bin Javaid reported that the checkpoint was a significant target because a large contingent of officials is always stationed there.
Dera Ismail Khan sits at the crossroads of Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab provinces, and the heavy flow of goods means customs officials are deployed alongside police to prevent smuggling, he said.
