Suicide bomber targets truck carrying troops in northwestern Pakistan, wounding 8 people

Police say a suicide bomber has hit a truck carrying security forces in northwestern Pakistan, wounding at least eight people

Pakistan Suicide Bombing (Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)

A suicide bomber targeted a truck carrying security forces in northwestern Pakistan on Tuesday, wounding at least eight people, police said amid increasing violence in the region.

The attack took place in Peshawar, the capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province that borders Afghanistan and is a former stronghold of the militant Pakistani Taliban group, also known as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan.

No one immediately claimed responsibility for the bombing but suspicion is likely to fall on the Pakistani Taliban, who have stepped up attacks on security forces in recent months.

The military truck was badly damaged. Police did not give any details about any troop casualties.

A senior police officer in the city, Waqas Rafique, said the victims were taken to a nearby hospital and that the attack also damaged other nearby vehicles carrying civilians.

The Pakistani Taliban — also known as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan or TTP — are a separate group but an ally of the Afghan Taliban. The TTP has become emboldened since the Taliban seized power in Afghanistan in August 2021 as U.S. and NATO troops were in the final stages of their pullout from the country after 20 years of war.