Blast claimed by Daesh kills four in northwest Pakistan

An explosion in northwest Pakistan killed at least four local government officials and police Wednesday, an officer told the media, in an attack claimed by a branch of the Daesh group.

"One senior government official, along with another government official and two police officers, were killed in the attack. Eleven people were wounded," said Waqas Rafiq, a senior police official stationed in Bajaur, a city near the border with Afghanistan.

The officials were travelling in a car in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province when "the attack happened in a market in Bajaur city", Rafiq added.

Hours later the Islamic State Khorasan (IS-K) group claimed to have detonated an explosives-laden moped that targeted the vehicle in which the officials were travelling.

The deadly blast came four days after 16 soldiers were killed in the same province in an attack claimed by the Pakistan Taliban, a group which is very active in the area.

Around 300 people, mostly security officials, have been killed in attacks since the start of the year by armed groups fighting the government in both Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan provinces, according to the media.

Last year was the deadliest in a decade for Pakistan, with a surge in attacks that killed more than 1,600 people, according to Islamabad-based analysis group the Center for Research and Security Studies.

Pakistan has witnessed a sharp rise in violence in its regions bordering Afghanistan since the Taliban returned to power in Kabul in 2021, with Islamabad accusing its western neighbour of allowing its soil to be used for attacks against Pakistan -- a claim the Taliban denies.

Agence France-Presse