At least 12 people were killed and 30 injured in a blast near Aman Mela in Pakistan’s Dera Ismail Khan district on Saturday, emergency service Rescue 1122 said. The explosion took place in the Darazinda area of the district.
Rescue teams from the Darazinda station reached the site after receiving information about the blast and began relief operations. The injured were provided medical assistance before being shifted to nearby hospitals for treatment, Rescue 1122 said.
The Pakistani Taliban, also known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement. The group is separate from, but allied with, the Afghan Taliban, which returned to power in Afghanistan in 2021.
Pakistan has witnessed a rise in militant attacks in recent years, with many claimed by the TTP and the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), a separatist group active mainly in Balochistan province.
PAKISTAN URGES KABUL TO PREVENT CROSS-BORDER ATTACKS
The latest attack came two days after clashes between Pakistan and Afghanistan along their southwestern border killed at least 13 Afghan Taliban fighters, according to the Pakistani government.
The incident marks another escalation in tensions between the neighbouring countries, following Pakistani airstrikes on what Islamabad described as militant hideouts inside Afghanistan earlier this week.
The renewed fighting has also raised concerns over ongoing mediation efforts by China, Turkiye, Qatar and Saudi Arabia to broker a lasting peace between Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Pakistan has repeatedly accused the Afghan Taliban of allowing TTP members to operate from Afghan territory and has urged Kabul to prevent cross-border attacks.
Afghan authorities have denied allowing their territory to be used for attacks against other countries.
Dera Ismail Khan is located near South Waziristan, a former militant stronghold where the Pakistani military has conducted several operations.
In December 2023, a suicide bomber drove an explosives-laden vehicle into the main gate of a police station in Dera Ismail Khan, killing at least 23 security personnel. Tehreek-e-Jihad Pakistan, a militant group considered an offshoot of the TTP, claimed responsibility for the attack.
Source: India Today