A suicide bombing at a police checkpoint in northwestern Pakistan on Saturday killed at least 11 people and wounded around 30 others, authorities said. The attacker detonated an explosives-laden vehicle at a roadside checkpoint in Dera Ismail Khan, the country's 10th largest city, according to police. Among the dead were security personnel and passersby. Some of the injured are in critical condition, and emergency teams from Rescue 1122 provided medical assistance and transported the wounded to hospitals.

Dera Ismail Khan is located in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, which borders Afghanistan and has been repeatedly hit by Islamist militant violence. The Pakistani Taliban, known as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement. The TTP is an Islamist militant group that targets the Pakistani state and has stepped up attacks on Pakistani security forces in recent years.

The blast occurred just two days after fighting between Pakistan and Afghanistan along their southwestern border killed at least 13 members of the Afghan Taliban. Pakistan has repeatedly accused Kabul of allowing TTP members to operate from Afghan soil and demanded firmer action to stop cross-border attacks. The Taliban have denied allowing their territory to be used for attacks.

The rift has sparked cross-border attacks by both countries, with Pakistan carrying out deadly airstrikes it says target militants on Afghan soil. China, Turkey, Qatar and Saudi Arabia are trying to mediate a lasting peace between the two neighbors.

Pakistan has experienced a surge in militant attacks in recent years. Many of them have been claimed by the TTP and the outlawed Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), a separatist group mainly active in neighboring Balochistan province. The TTP is aligned with Afghanistan's Taliban, which returned to power in Afghanistan in 2021 when US and NATO troops pulled out.

Source: www.dw.com