A roadside bomb targeting police vehicle in northwest Pakistan kills 2 officers and wounds 14

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — A powerful roadside bomb struck a police vehicle in a former stronghold of the Pakistani Taliban in the restive northwest of Pakistan bordering Afghanistan on Wednesday, killing at least two officers and wounding 14 others, mostly passersby, officials said.

The attack took place in the city of Wana in South Waziristan, a district in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, according to local police chief Adam Khan.

Militant violence has surged in recent weeks, claiming the lives of dozens of security personnel.

Pakistan is also preparing for a military operation in Bajur, another northwestern district, where elders are in talks with the government and insurgents to avoid violence. Previous such operations years ago displaced thousands of residents.

No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack on police, but suspicion is likely to fall on the Pakistani Taliban, or Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, known as TTP. The group frequently targets security forces and civilians across the region.

TTP is a close ally of the Afghan Taliban, who returned to power in neighboring Afghanistan in August 2021 following the withdrawal of U.S. and NATO forces after two decades of war.

Since then, many TTP fighters and leaders have found refuge in Afghanistan, with some living openly under Taliban rule — a development that has emboldened the group in Pakistan.