At least four passersby were killed and 14 others — including three police personnel — injured on Thursday when an improvised explosive device (IED) targeted a police vehicle in Wana Bazaar, located in the South Waziristan district of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P).
The blast occurred near Shakai Stand, police officials confirmed, adding that unidentified assailants also opened fire following the incident.
Police have confirmed the death of four passersby in the incident, while 14 others — including three police personnel — sustained injuries. The injured were immediately shifted to Wana Headquarters Hospital, where they are being provided medical treatment.
According to District Police Officer (DPO) Tahir Shah, a heavy contingent of security forces has been deployed in the area following the blast and gunfire, and evidence is being collected from the scene.
K-P had continued to grapple with violence, as terrorists frequently launched attacks in the northwestern province using Afghan soil as a staging ground.
In April this year, a bomb blast near the office of a local peace (Aman) committee in the Wana area of South Waziristan killed at least seven people and left 29 others injured.
A month earlier, in March, Mufti Munir Shakir, founder of the now-banned militant group Lashkar-e-Islam (LeI), was killed in a grenade attack on the outskirts of Peshawar.
The same day terrorists carried out a string of attacks targeting police stations and checkpoints across the southern districts of K-P.
