Suicide bombing kills at least 11 in northwestern Pakistan

At least 11 people were killed in a suicide bombing in northwestern Pakistan on Saturday, authorities said.

The blast happened just two days after fighting between Pakistan and Afghanistan along their southwestern border killed at least 13 members of the Afghan Taliban.

What do we know?

Police said the bomber detonated an explosives-laden vehicle at a roadside police checkpoint in Dera Ismail Khan, the country's 10th largest city.

Dera Ismail Khan sits in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, which runs along the border with Afghanistan and has been repeatedly hit by Islamist militant violence.

Around 30 others were wounded in the blast, mostly security personnel and passersby, a police official said.

Emergency teams from Rescue 1122 provided medical assistance to the wounded and took them to the hospital, the service said.

Police said some of the injured were in a critical condition.

The Pakistani Taliban — Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) — an Islamist militant group that targets the Pakistani state, claimed responsibility in a statement.

Islamist attacks on the rise in Pakistan

Pakistan has experienced a surge in militant attacks in recent years.

Many of them have been claimed by the TTP and the outlawed Baloch Liberation Army, or BLA, a separatist group mainly active in neighboring Balochistan province.

The TTP is aligned with Afghanistan's Taliban, which returned to power in Afghanistan in 2021 when US and NATO troops pulled out.

Pakistan has repeatedly accused Kabul of allowing TTP members to operate from Afghan soil and demanded firmer action to stop cross-border attacks.

The Taliban have denied allowing their territory to be used for attacks.

The rift has sparked cross-border attacks by both countries, with Pakistan carrying out deadly airstrikes it says target militants on Afghan soil.

China, Turkey, Qatar and Saudi Arabia are trying to mediate a lasting peace between the two neighbors.