Islamabad, Aug. 20, (dpa/GNA) – At least 11 labourers were killed when a roadside bomb exploded in north-western Pakistan near the Afghan border, officials said on Sunday.
The labourers were travelling back from a construction site for a security post when their vehicle was hit by the blast, a local police official said.
Another two people were wounded in the attack.
“Heartbreaking to know about the terrorist attack in North Waziristan which claimed the lives of 11 innocent labourers. Strongly condemn this senseless act of violence and stand in solidarity with the families affected,” caretaker prime minister Anwarul Haq Kakar wrote on the online platform X, previously known as Twitter.
The mountainous region of North Waziristan long served as a base for the Islamist militants linked to al-Qaeda before they were chased out in a series of offensives.
There has been a surge in violence by the Pakistani Taliban since their Afghan counterparts seized power in Afghanistan.
According to a statistical report released by the independent think tank Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies (PICSS), there has been a 79% increase in militant attacks in the country during the first six months of 2023.
Around 80,000 Pakistanis have been killed in years of violence by the Taliban, who are seeking to overthrow the government to implement sharia, or strict Islamic law, as Taliban hardliners did in Afghanistan.
GNA