Thirteen people were killed and at least 35 others injured following a blast at a security checkpoint in Dera Ismail Khan, near the border between Pakistan’s Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces.
According to local police, an explosives-laden vehicle was driven into a checkpoint jointly operated by Pakistani police, the military, and customs personnel on September 26.
Officials from Pakistan’s emergency services called the incident a “militant attack” and said 11 people were killed, including six customs officers, two women, two men, and a child.
The department added that rescue teams had arrived at the scene and begun rescue operations, providing medical assistance to the injured and transporting them to a local hospital.
The head of the department, Imran Faizi, told Radio Azadi that after the attack gunmen opened fire on ambulances carrying the dead and wounded, killing two rescue workers and injuring two others.
While no group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, the department has blamed the attack on the banned Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan (TTP), also known as the Pakistani Taliban.
The incident came amid an increase in similar attacks in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan, Pakistan’s southwestern province bordering Afghanistan and Iran.
Just a week earlier, an attack involving an explosion and gunfire at a police headquarters killed more than 30 people and injured dozens others in the Pakistani city of Kohat.
Following that incident, Pakistan’s President Asif Ali Zardari urged the “complete elimination” of the TTP and “terrorists operating with foreign backing.”
Islamabad has blamed the attacks on armed groups originating from and linked to Afghanistan, while the Taliban government there has denied Kabul’s involvement.
The tensions have led to repeated clashes between the two countries in recent years, including a number of incidents along the border.
