Nine dead, 23 wounded in Pakistan’s Lakki Marwat Bazaar rickshaw bombing

A blast in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province claimed nine lives, including two traffic policemen, on Tuesday (May 12). Lakki Marwat district policespokesperson Qudratullah Khan, in a statement published in news outlet Dawn, said that the two traffic cops who were killed were later identified as Adil Jan and Rahatullah. According to Khan, the explosion was caused by a bomb rigged to a rickshaw parked in the centre of the busy commercial area. And police officials were performing their duties at a nearby intersection when the device was detonated.

The blast occurred at approximately 4:15 PM, a time when the bazaar is typically teeming with shoppers and commuters. Visuals from the scene, shared by news agency Reuters, showed mangled metal, shattered glass, and blood-stained merchandise scattered across the road. Residents and rescue volunteers were the first to arrive, using private vehicles and rickshaws to rush the critically injured to the Tehsil Headquarters (THQ) Hospital.

This latest act of violence comes just days after a sophisticated ambush and suicide bombing in the neighbouring Bannu district, which claimed the lives of 15 police officers on Saturday. The surge in attacks has strained diplomatic relations between Islamabad and Kabul. While no group has immediately claimed responsibility for Tuesday's bombing, suspicion has frequently fallen on the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur condemned the "cowardly attack" and directed the provincial health department to provide the best possible medical care to the 23 injured survivors. Medical Superintendent Mohammad Ishaq told Rescue 1122 that at least seven of the wounded remain in critical condition and have been shifted to specialised trauma centres in Peshawar for further treatment. The district of Lakki Marwat remains under a strict security lockdown as investigators collect forensic evidence from the blast site to determine the nature and weight of the explosives used.