Eight killed in Pakistan suicide bombing

A suicide bomber detonated at a checkpoint in western Pakistan on Saturday, killing eight people and wounding five more, officials said.

The bomber set off the blast from the back of a motorbike rickshaw near the town of Mir Ali in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, a local police officer told AFP on condition of anonymity.

Four police officers were killed alongside two members of a state paramilitary force and two civilians in the attack near the border with Afghanistan, he said.

Pakistan has seen an increase in militancy since the Afghan Taliban returned to power in 2021, with Islamabad claiming hostile groups are now using the neighbouring country for shelter.

"Among the five injured personnel, the condition of three is critical, and they have been transferred to a local military hospital," the police officer said.

A local government official who also did not want to be named confirmed the same toll of dead and wounded.

The attack was claimed by a little-known militant group calling itself "Aswad ul-Harb".

Another checkpost near the Afghan border was raided this week by the Pakistani Taliban, killing 10 police officers.

Last year, the country saw more suicide attacks than any year since 2014, according to the Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies.

There were 29 suicide attacks registered, killing 329 people in Pakistan's deadliest year in a decade.

Agence France-Presse