At least nine persons were killed and 30 injured in twin attacks at Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province's Dera Ismail Khan, Pakistan, on Sunday, July 21. District Police Chief Saleem Riaz said four gunmen on motorcycles opened fire at a police post that killed two policemen on Sunday morning. The militants fled the scene.
A suicide bomber then detonated seven kilograms of explosives at the hospital where the bodies of the police officers were brought in. The second attack killed another two police officials and three civilians who were visiting their relatives, reported AFP.
Riaz said the blast damaged the emergency ward. All the 30 injured, including eight police officials, were moved to the military hospital and many of the wounded are in critical condition.
While the police claimed that the suicide attacker was a female, the Pakistani Taliban, who claimed responsibility for the attack, said that the attacker was a man named Abu Obaida Ghazi. A statement released by Taliban revealed that the attack was "in revenge" for the killing of a Taliban commander by police in Dera Ismail Khan, reported Al Jazeera.
The Pakistan military has carried out several crackdowns against the Pakistan Taliban over the past few years restricting terror activities that are carried along the porous border near Dera Ismail Khan with Afghanistan.
