At least 12 people, including ten police and excise department personnel, were killed and 32 others injured in a suicide attack on a checkpoint in Pakistan’s Dera Ismail Khan district on Saturday, police and rescue officials said.
The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) claimed responsibility in a statement, according to the Associated Press. The armed group and its affiliates have carried out several deadly attacks in the region in recent months.
Police said the attacker rammed an explosives-laden vehicle into the roadside checkpoint near Aman Mela in the Darazinda area of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, adding that gunfire followed the explosion.
Volunteers carry a victim injured in the suicide attack on a roadside police checkpoint in Dera Ismail Khan, Pakistan, on September 26, 2026. [AP]
Dera Ismail Khan police spokesperson Zulqarnain Yaqoob said ten of those killed were police and excise personnel who had been on duty at the checkpoint.
Rescue 1122 spokesperson Bilal Ahmad Faizi had earlier said that 11 bodies and 32 injured people were taken to hospital. He said teams from Darazinda reached the scene after receiving reports of the blast and began rescue operations.
According to rescue officials, six ambulances, a fire engine and more than 25 personnel took part in the operation. The wounded received first aid and were transferred to hospital, while additional ambulances and rescue personnel were dispatched from Dera Ismail Khan to Darazinda.