Bomb Rigged to Rickshaw Explodes in Pakistan Bazaar Killing 9

A bomb rigged to a rickshaw exploded in a bazaar in northwest Pakistan on Tuesday, killing at least nine people and wounding more than two dozen others, police said. The attack took place in Lakki Marwat, a district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, local police chief Azmat Ullah said.

He said that two traffic police officers and a woman were among those killed. No group immediately claimed responsibility for the bombing. Pakistani officials have previously attributed similar attacks in the region to the Pakistani Taliban, known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan or TTP.

Pakistani authorities blamed that late Saturday attack on the TTP. In response to the Bannu incident, Islamabad summoned a senior Afghan diplomat to lodge a formal complaint. Pakistani authorities have long accused Afghanistan’s Taliban government of sheltering TTP militants.

Kabul has denied the allegation, saying it does not allow militants to use Afghan soil to launch attacks against other countries. Pakistan has witnessed a surge in militant violence in recent years, which has strained relations with Afghanistan. The TTP and other militant groups have grown more active since the Afghan Taliban returned to power in Kabul in 2021.

Tensions between Pakistan and Afghanistan have persisted, including fighting that has killed hundreds of people since late February. In early April, the two sides held peace talks mediated by China. Sporadic cross-border clashes have continued, though at a lower intensity than before.