22 Killed, 32 Injured In Suicide Bombing At Pakistani Police Station

One of the deadliest attacks in recent months occurred early Tuesday when a suicide bomber detonated his explosive-laden vehicle at a northwest Pakistani police station's main gate, killing 22 officers and wounding 32 others. A part of the building collapsed on impact, officials said.

There was also a shootout between militants and security forces for hours before three attackers were killed, local police officer Kamal Khan said.

According to authorities, some officers are in critical condition, so the death toll from the attack is likely to rise. Police official Mohammad Adnan told reporters that the bodies of the 22 security forces killed had been transferred to a hospital.

Officials said police launched a search operation in the surrounding area to apprehend militants who fled.

Khan said the attack took place in Dera Ismail Khan, a city in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province bordering Afghanistan. The province is a former stronghold of the militant Pakistani Taliban group, also known as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP.

According to the newly formed militant group Tehreek-e-Jihad Pakistan, or TJP - thought to be an offshoot of the TTP - it targeted police officers present at the police station. The statement also claimed that 20 officers were killed. However, this couldn’t be independently verified.

A larger number of security forces from across the country have had a constant presence lately at the Daraban police station where they were conducting intelligence-based operations against militants in the area with help from local police, said Khan

Pakistan’s caretaker Interior Minister Sarfraz Bugti denounced the onslaught in a statement and conveyed his condolences to those who were “martyred”. He couldn’t immediately confirm the number of officers killed in the attack which he called an act of “terrorism.”

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has witnessed a rise in violence with several deadly incursions this year. In January, at least 101 people were killed, mostly police officers, when a suicide bomber disguised as a policeman attacked a mosque in the northwestern city of Peshawar.

The Pakistani Taliban have stepped up attacks on security forces since 2022. Authorities say the insurgents have become emboldened while living openly in Afghanistan since the Taliban takeover of that country in 2021.

The TTP, though a separate group, is closely allied with the Afghan Taliban.

Dera Ismail Khan is located near South Waziristan, a former sanctuary for militants. In 2014, the Pakistani army conducted multiple operations against militants after some attacked an army-run school, killing more than 150 people, mostly schoolchildren.

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