Roadside bomb hits a vehicle carrying gov’t administrator in NW Pakistan, killing 5 officers

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — A roadside bomb struck a vehicle carrying a government administrator in a former stronghold of the Pakistani Taliban, killing at least five officers and wounding 11 others, police said.

The bombing occurred Wednesday in Bajaur, a district in northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. Among the dead was Assistant Commissioner Faisal Sultan, according to the district police chief.

Waqas Rafique said the victims were transported to hospital, where several were listed in critical condition.

No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, but Rafique said the blame is likely to fall on the Pakistani Taliban. The group, known as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan or TTP, often targets security forces and civilians in the region and elsewhere in the country.

TTP is a close ally of the Afghan Taliban, who seized power in neighboring Afghanistan in August, 2021, as U.S. and NATO troops were in the final stages of their pullout from the country after 20 years of war.

Many TTP leaders and fighters have found sanctuary in Afghanistan and have even been living there openly since the Taliban takeover, which also emboldened the Pakistani Taliban.