Daily Times

At least one person was killed and five others sustained injuries following a remote-controlled bomb explosion near a mosque in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s South Waziristan District, police said on Sunday.

The wounded persons have been shifted to the District Headquarters (DHQ) Hospital, Wana, after the bomb blast rocked Azam Warsak bazaar in the tribal district, the police added. The martyred man was identified as Mufti Ejazul Haq while the wounded persons include Saddam, Shah Hussain, Noor Hussain, Zain Ullah, and Maulana Shahzada Wazir.

Maulana Shahzada was seriously injured in the blast, and the condition of some of the injured is also critical, according to Deputy Medical Superintendent Dr Fazlur Rehman.

The injured are being treated at the DHQ Hospital and an emergency has been declared in the hospital by the authorities.Two injured were shifted to Dera Ismail Khan in critical condition for further treatment.

Station House Officer (SHO) Usman Wazir of Azam Warsak Police Station confirmed the incident and stated that unidentified persons had planted a remote control bomb near the mosque. The police have started investigating the incident, sources told the media. Pakistan continues to battle militancy as terrorist activities spiked across the country, especially in KP and Balochistan, since the Taliban takeover of bordering Afghanistan.

As per a report issued by the Centre for Research and Security Studies (CRSS), third quarter (July-September) of 2024 saw a sharp increase in fatalities of terrorist violence and counter-terrorism campaigns, with a 90% surge in violence. A total of 722 people were killed, including civilians, security personnel, and outlaws, while 615 others were wounded in as many as 328 incidents recorded during the period under review. Nearly 97% of these fatalities occurred in KP and Balochistan – marking the highest percentage in a decade, and over 92% of these incidents of terror attacks and security forces’ operations were recorded in the same provinces.