At least 14 people, including 11 security personnel and three civilians—one of them a child—were killed following two bomb attacks and a gunfight in northwest Pakistan, authorities said.
The separate incidents occurred across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, a volatile region bordering Afghanistan, and left at least 25 others injured, according to a senior security official who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The deadliest attack took place in the tribal district of Bajaur, where a suicide bomber rammed an explosives-laden vehicle into the wall of a religious seminary.
“As a result, eight police and Frontier Corps personnel present inside the seminary were martyred and 10 others injured,” the official said. “The blast also caused the roofs of several nearby houses to collapse, killing a child.”
He warned that the death toll could rise as rescue operations continued.
In a separate incident in Bannu, a bomb planted in a rickshaw exploded at the Miryan police station, killing two civilians and wounding 17 others, the officia
Elsewhere, three police officers and three militants were killed during a search-and-clear operation in Shangla, police said.
In a late-night statement, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa police said the militants killed in the Shangla firefight had been involved in “attacks targeting Chinese nationals.”
Beijing has invested billions of dollars in Pakistan in recent years, but Chinese-funded projects have increasingly drawn militant attacks. Last year, five Chinese engineers and their Pakistani driver were killed when a suicide bomber targeted their vehicle near a dam construction site along the Karakoram Highway.
The latest violence comes weeks after Islamic State claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing at a Shiite mosque in Islamabad that killed at least 31 worshippers and wounded 169 others.
Pakistan’s security agencies say militants have stepped up operations along routes linked to Chinese-backed infrastructure under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, a flagship component of China’s Belt and Road Initiative.
“Due to the area’s proximity to the Silk Road route, the militants posed a persistent threat to the strategic road corridor and Chinese development projects,” police said. “In light of this, the Counter Terrorism Department and district police launched a joint operation today under a coordinated strategy.”
Authorities said security has been heightened across the province as counterterrorism operations continue.
