Suicide Bombing at Pakistan Police Checkpoint Kills at Least 11

On Saturday, a bomber drove a vehicle packed with explosives into a police checkpoint along a road in Dera Ismail Khan, located in northwestern Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, leaving at least 11 people dead and roughly 30 others wounded, Deutsche Welle, Euronews, the South China Morning Post and the Washington Post reported. The Pakistani Taliban, also known as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), claimed responsibility for the attack.¹⁵⁴⁷

The attack

The Hindu reported that a bomber drove a tractor-trolley packed with explosives into a combined police and customs checkpost in the Aman Mela area of Darazinda tehsil, close to where Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan provinces meet. According to the outlet, the checkpost existed to deter smuggling and monitor the unlawful transport of goods along the Dera Ismail Khan-Quetta road.³

The blast destroyed a large part of the checkpost and, according to The Hindu, completely demolished a nearby house, killing four people inside. Deutsche Welle and Reuters via Internazionale reported that emergency responders from Rescue 1122 treated injured victims at the scene and moved them to hospitals.³¹¹⁰

In a statement, the Federal Board of Revenue said staff from Pakistan Customs, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Police and the province's Excise and Taxation Department were among those killed or hurt while on duty, and that gunmen shot at an ambulance evacuating wounded people from the site. It identified Pakistan Customs employees Havaldar Farman Ullah and Sepoy Usama as being among the dead, and noted that Inspector Kashif along with Sepoys Afaq Adil, Mehboob and Affan remained under medical treatment.⁸

Casualty figures vary

Reports on the death toll differ. Deutsche Welle, Euronews and the South China Morning Post put the toll at least 11 killed and about 30 wounded. Dawn, drawing on statements from the regional police officer as well as police and Rescue 1122 sources, revised the count to 12 fatalities and 35 injuries, noting the dead comprised nine men, two women and one child. The Hindu put the death toll at 13, among them two women and two children, with 30 injured, and broke down the fatalities as the bomber himself, six excise and customs staff, two police officers, two women and two children. Some of the injured were described as being in critical condition.¹⁵⁴⁷

Claim of responsibility

The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan claimed responsibility for the bombing. Deutsche Welle characterizes the TTP, known too as the Pakistani Taliban, as an Islamist militant faction opposed to the Pakistani state that maintains ties to Afghanistan's Taliban despite being a distinct organization. Per Euronews, the Counter Extremism Project characterizes the TTP as a "conglomerate" bringing together about 40 tribal and non-tribal militant factions, established in late 2007. Euronews reported that the group's fighters frequently strike security personnel, civilians and political leaders throughout Pakistan and Afghanistan.⁵³¹⁰¹

Wider tensions with Afghanistan

According to Deutsche Welle, the bombing occurred two days following clashes between Pakistani and Afghan forces that left at least 13 Afghan Taliban fighters dead, though this claim was not independently verified by other sources in the dossier. Al Jazeera reported that Pakistan said it foiled an attempted Afghan aggression on the border and that several Afghan Taliban members were reportedly killed in intermittent fire in the Gulistan area. Pakistan said its earlier air attacks on 10 locations in Afghanistan were in response to what it called a deliberate and unlawful drone incursion.¹²

Information Minister Attaullah Tarar wrote that Pakistan's air and drone operations struck "terrorist hideouts and support infrastructure including drone launching and storage sites," posting footage purporting to depict the strikes. Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said the strikes targeted Kandahar, Paktia and Khost provinces, and Taliban officials denied launching drones against Pakistan. The Afghan government said it would deliver an "appropriate response" to the Pakistani strikes, according to Al Jazeera.²

In a separate report, the Associated Press said Pakistan claimed its airstrikes in Afghanistan around September 21 killed 28 militants, whereas Kabul countered that three civilians had died. Islamabad has accused Afghanistan of sheltering TTP leaders, an allegation the Taliban government has denied, according to the Associated Press and Deutsche Welle. Deutsche Welle reported that China, Turkey, Qatar and Saudi Arabia are working to broker lasting peace between the two nations, while Al Jazeera noted the escalating conflict put those mediation efforts at risk.⁶¹²

Reaction

The Federal Board of Revenue condemned the attack, stating "FBR mourns its own" and "Your loss is the loss of this institution, and you will not face it alone," adding that "the men and women of Pakistan Customs are not desk officials" and that "our posts will remain manned. Our checks will continue." The board also said it had instructed customs officials in Peshawar to support the bereaved families.³⁸

Background

Deutsche Welle identifies Dera Ismail Khan as Pakistan's 10th largest city, situated in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, which the outlet noted stretches along the Afghan border and has repeatedly suffered Islamist militant attacks. Deutsche Welle and the South China Morning Post reported that militant violence in Pakistan has intensified in recent years, with numerous incidents claimed by the TTP and the banned Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), a separatist outfit operating primarily in nearby Balochistan province. The Taliban regained control of Afghanistan in 2021 following the US and NATO withdrawal, and Deutsche Welle reported that Pakistan has consistently charged Kabul with permitting TTP fighters to operate from Afghan territory, a charge the Taliban reject.¹⁴