Seven killed by blast in northwestern Pakistan

Two traffic police personnel were among seven people killed during a blast in a market in northwestern Pakistan, a police official confirmed on Tuesday. 

The blast took place at the Sarai Naurang bazaar in the northwestern Lakki Marwat district on Tuesday, the district’s police spokesperson Rehmat Ullah Marwat told Arab News. Visuals of the site shared by police showed damaged shopfronts and a mangled vehicle, Arab News reported.

“An explosion involving a motorcycle occurred at Sarai Naurang crossing,” Marwat said. “Five civilians and two traffic police personnel were died on the spot.”

He said police are determining who was the intended target of the blast, adding that it remains to be confirmed whether it was a suicide bombing or a blast caused by a remote-controlled device.

The blast, which took place near ‌the Bannu district ‌on the border with ​Afghanistan, threatens ‌to ⁠reignite ​tensions between ⁠the neighbors whose militaries clashed fiercely this year.

The incident takes place days after a suicide bombing in the restive Bannu district killed 15 police constables and injured four others. The attack occured on late Saturday night as militants targeted the Fateh Khel police checkpost with an explosive-laden vehicle, before ambushing the checkpost as well.

A newly formed splinter group of the Pakistani Taliban, Ittehad-ul-Mujahideen Pakistan, claimed responsibility for the attack. Islamabad has accused the group of being a front for the Pakistani Taliban.

Pakistan issued a demarche to Afghanistan’s Chargé d’Affaires Sardar Ahmad Shakeeb on Monday, saying that evidence and technical intelligence indicated that the attack was masterminded by “terrorists” residing in Afghanistan.

Afghanistan rejects Islamabad’s allegations that it harbors militants who launch attacks against Pakistan. Militant attacks have surged in Pakistan since the Afghan Taliban seized power in Afghanistan in August 2021. 

The rise in attacks has soured relations between Islamabad and Kabul, with both countries engaging in fierce clashes since October last year.