A powerful explosion at a police checkpoint in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province has killed at least 11 people.

In Darazinda, Dera Ismail Khan (DI Khan), an explosion near a joint police and customs checkpoint killed 12 people and injured 35 others. Sources said the incident was an alleged suicide bombing. The blast occurred at the Anti-Smuggling “Aman Mela Police Check Post” on the DI Khan-Quetta Road. A vehicle loaded with explosives reportedly rammed into the anti-smuggling checkpoint.

The attack on the anti-smuggling checkpoint is being described as evidence of a nexus between terrorists and criminal elements. The Khawarij have once again targeted security forces and civilians.

Sources said that 11 people, including a two-year-old child and two women, were killed in the blast at the checkpoint. According to RPO Ghulam Mubashir Maken, one of the deceased was a customs official. More than 30 people, including customs and police personnel as well as civilians, were also injured. Some of the injured are in critical condition, and the death toll is feared to rise.

According to a report by Pakistani newspaper Dawn, the suicide blast took place at the Aman Mela police checkpoint in Darazinda, Dera Ismail Khan, near the border of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan. Two civilians were among those injured, along with police personnel and customs officials. Rescue and relief operations began immediately after the explosion. Rescue teams pulled people trapped under the rubble and shifted the injured to hospitals for immediate treatment.

A bomb disposal unit was also dispatched to determine the cause of the explosion, although some media reports have described it as a suicide bombing. Taking serious note of the attack, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Faisal Karim Kundi sought a detailed report from senior officials and directed authorities to provide the injured with all possible medical assistance.

It is worth noting that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has witnessed several such attacks in recent months, with security forces and police repeatedly being targeted. According to data from the Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies (PICSS), 54 such incidents were recorded in the province in August alone. Authorities have intensified counterterrorism operations in the region, but there has been no apparent decline in militant attacks.