PESHAWAR: A vehicle-borne suicide bomber targeted a security check post in Pakistan’s northwestern district of North Waziristan on Friday, killing at least one civilian and wounding 16 others, several critically, police and hospital officials said.
The attack struck the Chashma Sarband check post on the Bannu–Miran Shah road in Miran Shah, the main town in the restive tribal district bordering Afghanistan, police said.
The blast comes amid a resurgence of militant attacks in Pakistan’s northwestern border regions and growing tensions with neighboring Afghanistan, where Islamabad says armed groups responsible for violence in Pakistan are based.
“Sixteen civilians were among those wounded, four of whom were in critical condition,” said Dr. Asif Iqbal, the medical superintendent at the district headquarters hospital in Miran Shah.
“One person has died at the hospital,” he said, adding that more injured victims were expected to be brought in.
Police spokesman Fazal Khan said the vehicle-borne suicide attack targeted the security checkpoint along the busy highway.
Two members of the security forces were also wounded in the explosion, he said.
Chief Minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Sohail Afridi condemned the attack and ordered authorities to submit a report on the incident.
“The incident in which civilians were injured in the Miran Shah Chashma check post explosion is tragic,” he said in a statement.
Afridi directed officials to ensure the best possible medical treatment for the injured and said emergency services and hospital staff had been placed on high alert.
“Cowardly acts of terrorism cannot weaken the resolve of the government and the public,” he added.
Pakistan has witnessed a rise in militant violence in recent months, particularly in regions bordering Afghanistan, where officials say groups such as the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), also known as the Pakistani Taliban, operate from bases across the frontier.
Islamabad accuses Afghanistan’s Taliban authorities of sheltering militants who carry out attacks inside Pakistan, a charge Kabul denies.
The tensions have escalated further after Pakistan launched air strikes inside Afghanistan earlier this year targeting what it described as militant camps, triggering cross-border clashes between the two neighbors and prompting Islamabad to expand military operations along the frontier.
Pakistan says the campaign, dubbed “Ghazab Lil Haq,” will continue until militant threats from across the border are neutralized.
