Three Pakistani police officers killed in car bomb attack in northwest
A car bomb has killed three police officers and wounded at least six others in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. Officials are investigating links to the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, which has stepped up attacks along the western border in recent months.
A car bomb in Pakistan's northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province killed three police officers and wounded at least six others when it detonated outside a station in the Bannu district during morning hours. The blast tore through nearby vehicles and shattered windows on neighbouring buildings.
Officials said no group had formally claimed responsibility, but the operation matched the methods used by the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), which has sharply scaled up attacks on police and military convoys near the Afghan border over the past six months. Authorities are searching nearby districts for accomplices and intelligence handlers.
The security escalation undercuts the economic breathing room Islamabad gained from this week's fresh 1.32-billion-dollar IMF disbursement. Analysts say persistent instability in the western provinces could weigh on investor sentiment and complicate ongoing bilateral energy talks with Iran. Pakistan's federal security cabinet has called an urgent meeting in response.
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