ISLAMABAD: Two people were killed while one was injured on Sunday morning when a blast ripped through a busy road in northwestern Pakistan’s Peshawar city, police and a rescue officials confirmed.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Rescue 1122 spokesperson Bilal Faizi wrote on social media platform X that the blast occurred at provincial capital Peshawar’s Nasir Bagh Road, after which ambulances were dispatched to the area.
“Two people have been killed while one has been injured,” Faizi wrote on X. “Rescue 1122 has shifted all persons to the hospital.”
Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Operations Kashif Aftab Abbasi confirmed the death toll, saying that as per initial investigations, the blast occurred due to explosives fitted into a motorcycle.
“Our Bomb Disposal Squad and investigative officers are inspecting the site of the blast,” Abbasi told reporters. “As soon as they reach a final conclusion, we will let you know.”
Pakistan has witnessed an uptick in militant violence in its western KP and Balochistan provinces that share their border with the neighboring state of Afghanistan.
While no group has yet claimed responsibility for Sunday’s blast, banned outfit Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) have carried out some of the deadliest attacks against the country’s security forces and civilians since 2007.
The surge in militant activities, including deadly suicide bombings, followed after the TTP, a conglomerate of armed factions, called off a fragile ceasefire with the government in November 2022.
Pakistani security forces have carried out several security operations in recent months to deal with militants hiding in the remote areas of the two provinces.
On Saturday, Pakistan Army’s media wing said security forces killed 10 militants and injured three others in two separate operations in the country’s North Waziristan tribal district.
