“The number of deaths from the attack has increased to nine”, Ismatullah, a Khyber tribal district administration official, told AFP.
Advertisement
A child was among those who died when the attacker riding “an explosives-laden motorcycle” struck the checkpoint on the Torkham-Jalalabad Highway linking Pakistan to Afghanistan, said Saiful Islam, a senior official in the semi-autonomous tribal government of the region.
Most of the dead include personnel from the Khyber Khasadar Force, rescue sources said. Several vehicles and nearby shops were also damaged in the blast, Islam added. The mountainous forest regions have for years been home to some of the world’s most notorious militants linked to Al Qaeda or the Taliban.
It is inspired by Pakistan’s deadliest ever insurgent attack that saw nine Taliban gunmen storm a school in Peshawar city, shooting students and teachers in cold blood and occupying the school for hours until they were killed by the army.
Advertisement
The blast is likely to be a suicide attack, however, the exact nature of the blast is yet to be ascertained. At least nine people were killed and 35 injured in the rush-hour blast. No group immediately claimed the attack near Peshawar’s Karkhano Market, according to the Express Tribune.
