Bombing and Gunfight Kill at Least Three Police in Northwest Pakistan

A suicide bomber accompanied by several gunmen detonated an explosives-laden vehicle near a security post in northwest Pakistan late Saturday, triggering an intense firefight that killed at least three police officers. The attack took place in Bannu, a district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province bordering Afghanistan, police official Zahid Khan said.

Multiple explosions were heard shortly after the attack.

Several nearby houses and the security post collapsed from the impact of the blast. The exchange of fire was ongoing after the attack. Some officers were believed to be wounded and trapped under the rubble, Zahid Khan said.

At least three police officers were killed in the attack and subsequent firefight. No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack. Pakistan has witnessed a surge in militant violence in recent years.

The Pakistani Taliban is known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan or TTP. The TTP is a separate group but allied to the Afghan Taliban, who seized power in Afghanistan in 2021. Suspicion is likely to fall on the TTP and allied militant groups that have carried out similar attacks in the past, according to the reporting from the scene.

Zahid Khan provided no further details as the situation on the ground remained fluid with the exchange of fire continuing. The district of Bannu lies in a region long affected by cross-border militancy since the Afghan Taliban seized power in 2021. The blast's force was strong enough to bring down both the targeted security post and adjacent civilian structures.

Rescue efforts were complicated by the ongoing gunfire and the possibility of additional explosives.