Gunmen target ambulance in Pakistan after suicide bombing at checkpoint killed 12

The Pakistani Taliban, formally known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP, claimed responsibility for the attack. Pakistan has experienced a surge in militant violence in recent years, much of it claimed by the TTP and the outlawed Baloch Liberation Army, a separatist group primarily active in neighboring Balochistan province.

The TTP is separate from but closely allied with Afghanistan’s Taliban, which returned to power in 2021.

Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif condemned the attack, offered condolences to the victims’ families.

Zardari described the targeting of civilians and law enforcement personnel as “highly condemnable” and called for intensified action against the Pakistani Taliban, which he accused of carrying out “heinous and brutal acts” with foreign support.

Pakistani officials have repeatedly accused Afghanistan’s Taliban government of allowing TTP members to operate from Afghan territory and have demanded that Kabul prevent cross-border attacks. Afghan authorities deny permitting their territory to be used for attacks against other countries.

Saturday’s bombing came two days after fighting along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border killed at least 13 Afghan Taliban fighters, according to Pakistan’s government. The clash followed Pakistani strikes this week on suspected militant hideouts inside Afghanistan.

The renewed hostilities threaten mediation efforts by China, Turkey, Qatar and Saudi Arabia aimed at securing lasting peace between the neighboring countries.

Dera Ismail Khan is near South Waziristan, a former militant stronghold where Pakistan’s military has conducted several operations in recent years.

Militants frequently target security forces in the region. In December 2023, a suicide bomber detonated an explosives-laden vehicle at the main gate of a police station in Dera Ismail Khan, killing at least 23 security personnel in one of the area’s deadliest attacks. Tehreek-e-Jihad Pakistan, a small militant group believed to be an offshoot of the TTP, claimed responsibility.

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Ahmed reported from Islamabad. Associated Press writers Riaz Khan and Rasool Dawar in Peshawar, Pakistan, contributed to this report.

Ishtiaq Mahsud And Munir Ahmed, The Associated Press

by The Canadian Press

Gunmen target ambulance in Pakistan after suicide bombing at checkpoint killed 12

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