Gunmen Target Ambulance After Suicide Bombing Kills 12 in Pakistan
The Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack that wounded approximately 35 people, many of them security personnel.
Gunmen opened fire on an ambulance responding to a suicide bomb attack at a roadside police checkpoint in northwestern Pakistan on Saturday, killing at least 12 people and wounding about 35 others, officials said. The explosives-laden vehicle detonated in Dera Ismail Khan, a district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
Local police chief Safdar Baloch stated that most of the casualties were security personnel and passersby. The blast destroyed the checkpoint, and witnesses reported hearing gunshots after the explosion. The ambulance attack resulted in the death of one rescue worker and injuries to two others.
The Pakistani Taliban, also known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), claimed responsibility for the bombing. This incident is part of a recent surge in militant violence in Pakistan, with the TTP and the outlawed Baloch Liberation Army frequently claiming attacks. The TTP is closely allied with the Afghan Taliban, which regained control of Afghanistan in 2021.
Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif condemned the attack and extended condolences to the victims' families. Zardari denounced the targeting of civilians and law enforcement, urging increased action against the TTP and alleging foreign support for their operations.
Pakistani authorities have previously accused the Afghan Taliban government of permitting TTP members to operate from Afghan territory, a claim denied by Kabul. The violence along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border has escalated, with fighting days earlier killing at least 13 Afghan Taliban fighters, according to Pakistan. These exchanges followed Pakistani strikes on suspected militant sites within Afghanistan.
Dera Ismail Khan is located near South Waziristan, a region where Pakistan's military has conducted operations against militants. In December 2023, a suicide bombing at a Dera Ismail Khan police station gate killed at least 23 security personnel. That attack was claimed by Tehreek-e-Jihad Pakistan, a group believed to be an offshoot of the TTP.