PESHAWAR: Five persons, including two children, were killed while eight others were injured in two separate explosions in the volatile North and adjacent South Waziristan tribal districts late on Tuesday, officials told Arab News.
Jahanzeb Wazir, Deputy Superintendent of Police in Razmak, a town on the outskirts of Miran Shah – the headquarters of North Waziristan tribal district – told Arab News that a land mine blast in the area has injured two security personnel late on Tuesday evening.
“Two security men, including Hawaldar Hidayatullah and Muhammad Zahid, suffered multiple injuries in the blast. The victims were instantly evacuated to a nearby hospital for treatment,” Wazir added.
Soon after the blast in the Dangin area of Razmak, security forces rushed to the site before cordoning off the entire area in order to nab the perpetrators. However, arrests have yet to made in the case as the search continues.
In a similar incident on late Tuesday, five people were killed and six others injured in Birmal, a rugged town near the Afghan border, Dil Nawaz Wazir, additional deputy commissioner of the South Waziristan district, said.
The victims, he added, were on their way to the jungle when their vehicle was hit by a land mine in the Gangikhel area located close to the Afghan border. Meanwhile, the injured were moved to Dera Ismail Khan, an adjacent district, for treatment.
In recent months, a series of land mine blasts have claimed the lives of several civilians and security personnel in both the tribal areas.
On August 7, Abdullah Khan, a tribesman from Dattakhel tehsil of the North Waziristan tribal district suffered serious injuries when he stepped on a land mine while grazing his cattle, resulting in the loss of a leg.
Similarly, on June 25, a child lost her life while three others were injured in Patikhel, a village close to Miran Shah.
Earlier on June 14, a security officer who was returning home from duty in the Sra Rogha area was also killed when he stepped on a land mine.
Landmine blasts kill five in Pakistan’s tribal areas
Landmine blasts kill five in Pakistan’s tribal areas
- Arrests have yet to made in the case as the search continues
- All the victims were from the North and South Waziristan districts
Pakistan arrests suspect arriving from Cambodia amid crackdown on human smuggling
- Suspect worked at an “online fraud company” in Cambodia, later started smuggling people from Pakistan, says FIA
- Pakistan has intensified crackdown against human smugglers after hundreds of migrants drowned near Pylos in 2023
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) on Sunday said it had arrested a key suspect involved in smuggling humans who had arrived from Cambodia, alleging he was also part of an international fraud network.
The suspect, identified as Zainullah, was arrested by FIA officials when he arrived in the southern port city of Karachi from Cambodia.
Zainullah had traveled from Pakistan to Cambodia in September 2024, a press release issued by the agency said.
“He worked at an online fraud company in Cambodia and later became involved as an agent in recruiting individuals from Pakistan,” the FIA said.
The FIA said it recovered images of multiple individuals’ passports, payment receipts and bank transaction records after extracting data from Zainullah’s phone.
It said the suspect received money through personal bank accounts and a cryptocurrency account.
“The suspect has been handed over to the FIA Anti-Human Trafficking Circle, Karachi, for further legal proceedings,” the FIA said.
“Further investigation is underway.”
Pakistan intensified action against illegal migration in 2023 after hundreds of migrants, including 262 Pakistanis, drowned when an overcrowded vessel sank off the Greek town of Pylos, one of the deadliest boat disasters in the Mediterranean.
Authorities say they continue to target networks sending citizens abroad through dangerous routes, following heightened scrutiny at airports and a series of arrests involving forged documents.
Pakistan’s interior ministry said this week illegal migration to Europe has declined by 47 percent this year after its nationwide crackdown, saying that more than 1,700 human smugglers have been arrested in 2025.
