In yet another incident of explosion in Pakistan, at least five police personnel have been killed and more than 21 injured after a powerful blast targeted security officials in the northwestern region of the country. According to local media reports, the bomb exploded close to a police patrol in Dera Ismail Khan city.
Citing police officials, ARY News reported that the blast was followed by intense firing in the market near Tank Ada (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa). Although, the police did not reveal the nature of the blast but said that the rescue teams reached the spot for relief activities.
It is worth mentioning the country which is already facing multiple issues, has witnessed an uptick in terror activities, especially in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan, after the outlawed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) ended its ceasefire with the government in November last year.
Earlier in January this year, terrorists unleashed an explosion in a crowded mosque inside a highly secured police compound in the city of Peshawar, resulting in the killing of at least 59 security personnel. Later, the death toll rose to over 100.
Similar incident in Kocha Risaldar
Last year, a similar attack inside a Shia mosque in Peshawar's Kocha Risaldar area in the city killed 63 people. The TTP set up as an umbrella group of several militant outfits in 2007, called off a ceasefire with the federal government and ordered its militants to stage terrorist attacks across the country.
The group, which is believed to be close to al-Qaeda, has been blamed for several deadly attacks across Pakistan, including an attack on army headquarters in 2009, assaults on military bases, and the 2008 bombing of the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad. In 2014, the Pakistani Taliban stormed the Army Public School (APS) in the northwestern city of Peshawar, killing at least 150 people, including 131 students. The attack sent shockwaves across the world and was widely condemned.
