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Police and rescue officials said two suicide bombers attacked a sprawling compound housing a police station and government offices in northwest Pakistan on Thursday, killing at least one police officer and wounding 15 others.
The provincial police chief, Akhtar Hayat, said the attack took place in Bara district in northwestern Pakistan, which borders Afghanistan. He said that part of the compound collapsed after the bombing.
Hayat said that the explosive belt one of the suicide bombers was carrying detonated when the police opened fire after he was attacked.
Bilal Faizi, a spokesman for the regional emergency service, said gunshots were heard after the blast, and an exchange of gunfire ensued.
Officials said the wounded included police officers and civilians.
No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack in the Bara district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, but suspicion is likely to fall on the Pakistani Taliban, who have stepped up their attacks in recent months.
The latest attack came hours after the Pakistani Taliban opened fire on two police officers, killing two policemen and wounding two others in an armed attack overnight at a roadside checkpoint in the city of Peshawar.
District police chief Arshad Khan said the gun attack took place in Rigi Model Town. He explained that a search operation had been launched to find and capture the attackers, who fled the scene in the dark.
The outlawed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) claimed responsibility for the attack on the police in Peshawar in a statement.
The attacks came two days after a suicide car bomber wounded six soldiers and two civilians by targeting a truck carrying security forces in Peshawar, the capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
The Pakistani Taliban is a separate group but an ally of the Afghan Taliban. They have become emboldened since the Taliban seized power in Afghanistan in August 2021 as US and NATO forces were in the final stages of their withdrawal from the country after 20 years of war.
The Pakistani Taliban are calling for stricter enforcement of Islamic laws in Pakistan, the release of its members from government custody and a reduction in the military presence in Pakistan’s former tribal areas.
Pakistan’s military last week warned the Afghan Taliban of an “active response” by government forces if they failed to stop harboring militants planning cross-border attacks from Afghanistan.
The army chief, General Asim Munir, issued a stern warning last Friday after two armed attacks killed 12 Pakistani soldiers in the southwestern province of Balochistan, which borders Afghanistan.
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