ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s counterterrorism police announced the arrest of a young female suicide bomber in the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province on Saturday, saying they have seized a pistol, communication devices and other materials from her possession.

The arrest was made in Dera Ismail Khan district amid a renewed surge in militant violence in KP, where security forces have faced frequent attacks in recent years. Islamabad has blamed the spike on cross-border militancy from neighboring Afghanistan, accusing the administration in Kabul of “facilitating” assaults against civilians and security personnel.

The allegation has been denied by the Afghan Taliban.

The Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) said it acted on intelligence in the Sheikh Yousaf tent settlement area of the district, where a special weapons and tactics team conducted a raid and detained the suspect.

“The arrested suicide attacker was the right-hand woman of the deceased khariji Shah Wali, also known as Tariq Kochi, and had continued to receive training from him,” the CTD said in a statement.

“The equipment and target for the suicide attack were to be provided by khariji commander Asim, according to the alleged confession of the suspected female suicide attacker,” it added.

Pakistani authorities refer to Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) militants as “khariji,” a term drawn from Islamic history for an extremist sect that rebelled against authority and declared other Muslims apostates.

The statement, which identified the suspect only by the initial “Z,” said she was a resident of Waziristan.

The CTD said a pistol with ammunition, two mobile phones, a tablet device, a power bank and other materials were recovered from the site.

It added that information extracted from the suspect’s mobile phones indicated contact with a proscribed group and preparations linked to a potential suicide bombing.

Female suicide bombers are relatively rare in Pakistan, though separatist militants in Balochistan have used women in recent attacks, including coordinated gun and bomb assaults across multiple districts in the southwestern province last month.

Recent attacks in KP have included suicide bombings, assaults on security checkpoints, police stations and paramilitary facilities, as well as kidnappings of government officials.