Nine people, including seven civilians and two police officials, were killed in a powerful explosion in northwestern Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) province on May 11. The incident reignited the regional tension between Pakistan and Afghanistan, which had witnessed escalating conflict earlier this year, triggered by massive cross-border firing.
According to Reuters, the blast took place near a railway gate in a busy market area of Pakhtunkhwa’s Lakki Marwat district. A rickshaw, which was loaded with explosives, detonated near the railway crossing, and as a result, nine people lost their lives, and more than 30 people sustained serious injuries.
Rescue teams and security personnel rushed to the spot soon after the incident, and security forces cordoned off the area as emergency teams shifted the injured to nearby hospitals for treatment.
While the Pakistani government has attributed the attack to Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), the Afghan Taliban government said it had no immediate comment regarding Pakistan’s allegations.
The market bombing comes only days after another deadly attack in the nearby Bannu district last week that left 15 police officers dead. Relations between the two countries have remained tense in recent months. In February, Pakistan and Afghanistan witnessed some of their worst fighting in years after Islamabad carried out airstrikes inside Afghanistan.
