5 civilians killed in Pakistan blast

A BOMB blast targeting a Pakistan police van in northwestern Pakistan on Friday (3) killed five civilians and wounded 21 people, officials said.

The attack happened in Dera Ismail Khan, a city in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province near the Afghan border where militancy has spiked in recent months.

"The bomb was planted in a motorcycle. The target of the blast was a police van," Zafar Islam, a senior government official in the district, said.

"Five people have been killed. All those killed were civilians."

A woman and a seven-year-old child and eight police personnel were among the wounded, he said.

Bilal Faizi, a spokesperson for Rescue 1122, confirmed the blast and the number of casualties.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack but Pakistan's home-grown Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) movement is active in the region.

The group has been emboldened by the return to power of the Taliban in neighbouring Afghanistan in 2021. Islamabad regularly accuses its neighbour of harbouring militants, a charge Afghanistan denies.

They have largely focused on targeting security forces, with civilians sometimes caught up in the violence.

(AFP)