A suicide bomber blew himself up at a Pakistan checkpost in Bhakkar district near the Dera Ismail Khan border, killing four Punjab police personnel and injuring several others.
Photo : AP
A suicide bomber struck at a checkpost in Pakistan’s Bhakkar district at 7 pm on Tuesday as he blew himself up killing four policemen. The blast came just before dusk. The suicide bomber approached a police checkpost in Bhakkar district and detonated explosives, killing four Punjab police personnel and injuring others. The attack took place near the Dera Darya Khan bridge, a sensitive inter-provincial link connecting Punjab with Dera Ismail Khan in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
District Police Officer Shahzad Rafiq said officers were conducting routine checks when the attacker moved towards the barrier and blew himself up. “The suicide attacker came near the check post and detonated himself while we were engaged in search operations,” he told reporters at the scene. CCTV footage reviewed by investigators shows a man wrapped in a dark shawl walking steadily towards the post moments before the explosion.
Two of the deceased were identified as Muhammad Faheem and Muhammad Shehbaz. The injured were rushed to the district headquarters hospital as emergency teams cordoned off the area. By early Wednesday, the main highway between Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had been sealed, with traffic suspended near the Dera Ismail Khan border while security personnel conducted combing operations.
Kohat Ambush Within Hours
The Bhakkar suicide attack was not an isolated incident. In Kohat city, terrorists opened fire on a police patrol vehicle late Tuesday, killing five officers and setting the vehicle ablaze, according to local police officials quoted by Reuters. Two civilians later died from injuries sustained during the firing.
Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan claimed responsibility for both attacks. In a separate statement, a lesser-known group identifying itself as Ansar al Islam Pakistan said its operative, named Abu Darda, carried out the Bhakkar bombing. Authorities are assessing the claims as part of the ongoing investigation.
The coordinated timing has prompted questions about whether terrorist networks are attempting to reassert operational reach across provincial boundaries. Targeting police patrols and checkposts has historically been a tactic used to test response times and stretch local security grids.
Cross-Border Context And Escalation
The twin attacks come days after Pakistan conducted air strikes inside Afghanistan, saying it targeted terrorists blamed for a recent wave of suicide bombings. Islamabad maintains that Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan fighters operate from Afghan soil, a charge Kabul denies.
Violence against security forces has surged in parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan over the past year. Analysts note that attacks on fixed checkposts, particularly those along inter-provincial corridors like Bhakkar and Dera Ismail Khan, are designed to disrupt movement and signal presence.
