Bomb blast in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa kills at least 9, dozens injured

At least nine people were killed and more than two dozen others injured after a bomb attached to a rickshaw exploded in a busy market area in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on May 12, according to police and rescue officials.

The blast took place in Sarai Naurang town in Lakki Marwat district, a region in northwest Pakistan bordering Afghanistan that has witnessed a sharp rise in militant violence in recent years. Officials said the explosion occurred in a crowded bazaar, damaging nearby shops and vehicles while causing panic among residents.

Police officials said two traffic police personnel and a woman were among those killed in the attack. Around 30 people sustained injuries, with several critically wounded victims shifted to hospitals in nearby Bannu for treatment.

Authorities said the bomb had been rigged to a rickshaw and detonated in the market area. Preliminary investigations suggest traffic police officers may have been the intended target, although most casualties were civilians and passersby present in the bazaar at the time of the blast.

No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack. However, suspicion has once again fallen on the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), also known as the Pakistani Taliban, which has intensified attacks on Pakistani security forces and civilians in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and other border regions. The TTP denied involvement in the latest bombing, according to reports.

The explosion comes just days after a major militant assault in Bannu district, also in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, where a suicide car bombing and subsequent ambush on a police post killed at least 15 police officers. Pakistani authorities blamed Afghanistan-based militants for the attack and lodged a protest with the Taliban administration in Kabul.

The Taliban government in Afghanistan rejected Islamabad’s allegations, calling them “baseless” and reiterating that Afghan territory would not be allowed to be used for attacks against other countries.

Pakistan has witnessed a surge in militant violence since the Afghan Taliban returned to power in Kabul in 2021. Islamabad has repeatedly accused the Afghan Taliban of providing safe havens to armed groups such as the TTP, a charge Kabul denies.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif condemned the Lakki Marwat bombing and directed authorities to investigate the attack and ensure medical assistance for the injured.