Most of those killed and wounded are security personnel, police say.
Published On 26 Sep 202626 Sep 2026
At least 12 people have been killed and 30 wounded in a suicide bombing at a roadside police checkpoint in northwestern Pakistan, police told Al Jazeera.
The attack took place on Saturday in the Dera Ismail Khan district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, local police said.
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Police chief Safdar Baloch said most of those killed and wounded were security personnel and passersby. Officers, customs officials and members of the forest department were among the dead.
The injured include police officers, customs personnel and at least two civilians, police said.
The blast occurred near Aman Mela in the Darazinda area of the district, Rescue 1122 said in a statement.
Rescue teams from the Darazinda station reached the scene and began relief operations, providing medical assistance to the wounded and taking them to hospital, the service said.
Al Jazeera’s Osama Bin Javaid, reporting from Islamabad, said an explosives-laden vehicle was rammed into the checkpoint. There were also reports that the blast was preceded by gunfire from assailants.
No group immediately claimed responsibility, but suspicion fell on the Pakistan Taliban, known by the acronym TTP, our correspondent said.
The armed group and its affiliates have launched a number of recent attacks in the region.
The TTP is separate from but closely allied with the Afghan Taliban, which returned to power in Afghanistan in 2021.
Bin Javaid reported that the checkpoint was a significant target because a large contingent of officials is always stationed there.
Dera Ismail Khan sits at the crossroads of Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab provinces, and the heavy flow of goods means customs officials are deployed alongside police to prevent smuggling, he said.
The district is also close to South Waziristan, which has been a hub of armed attacks for more than a decade and where Pakistani forces have launched a number of military operations, he added.
Pakistan has seen an increase in armed attacks in recent years, many of them claimed by the TTP and the outlawed Balochistan Liberation Army, or BLA, a separatist group mainly active in neighbouring Balochistan province.
Pakistani officials have repeatedly accused the Afghan Taliban of allowing TTP members to operate from Afghan soil and have demanded that Kabul prevent cross-border attacks into Pakistan. Kabul has denied the accusations.
Pakistan’s government has not officially said how it will respond. But Bin Javaid said its strategy has been to respond to attacks with a security cordon and a counteroffensive, including cross-border strikes on alleged masterminds in Afghanistan.
The latest attack comes two days after fighting between Pakistan and Afghanistan along their southwestern border killed at least 13 Afghan Taliban fighters, according to Pakistan’s government. It is the latest escalation between the neighbouring countries, following Pakistani strikes on alleged armed group hideouts inside Afghanistan this week.
The renewed hostilities threaten mediation efforts by China, Turkiye, Qatar and Saudi Arabia aimed at securing lasting peace between the two countries.