IED attack kills 11 laborers in Pakistan’s North Waziristan

At least 11 laborers, working on an under-construction army post, have been killed in an attack in Pakistan’s northwestern tribal region when an improvised explosive device (IED) exploded under their vehicle.

Rehman Gul Khattak, a senior government official for North Waziristan, said in a statement on Sunday that the device exploded after being attached to the vehicle they were traveling in on Saturday evening.

"The laborers were working at an under-construction post for the Pakistan army," Khattak said.

The attack in North Waziristan’s Shawal Valley, 300 kilometers southwest of the capital Islamabad, was confirmed by Pakistan’s interim Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar in a post on a social media platform.

"Heartbreaking to know about the terrorist attack in North Waziristan which claimed the lives of 11 innocent laborers. Strongly condemn this senseless act of violence and stand in solidarity with the families affected," Kakar posted on X, formerly known as Twitter. 

No group immediately claimed responsibility for the blast.

Pakistan has seen a sharp rise in militant attacks since the Taliban surged back to power in neighboring Afghanistan in 2021.

The militant assaults have been focused in regions close to border with Afghanistan, and Islamabad alleges some are being planned on Afghan soil -- a charge Kabul denies.

The outlawed group Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) has waged a growing campaign against security officials, including police officers.

In January, a  bomber linked to TTP blew himself up in a mosque inside a police compound in the northwestern city of Peshawar, killing more than 80 officers.

Last month, the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group claimed responsibility for a bombing that killed at least 54 people, including 23 children, at a political party gathering ahead of elections due later this year.

Death toll in Pakistan bombing rises to 54, Daesh claims act of terror

The attack targeted a political party gathering in the town of Khar in the northwestern district of Bajaur.

The attacks surged since last year when a ceasefire between the TTP and the government in Islamabad broke down.

The TTP pledges allegiance to Afghanistan's Taliban militants. The Pakistani government accuses the Taliban government of providing hideouts to the TTP militants near the border.

More than 300 attacks have hit Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province this year alone, according to official data, with a vast majority of them claimed by the TTP.

Top Pakistani officials accuse the Taliban administration of not doing enough to control the movement of armed groups from crossing the porous border.

US forces occupied Afghanistan for about two decades under the pretext of fighting the Taliban. But when the forces chaotically left the country in August 2021, the Taliban stormed the capital Kabul, which had been weakened by prolonged occupation.

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