A bomb attached to a rickshaw exploded in a crowded bazaar in Lakki Marwat, a district in northwest Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, on Tuesday, May 12, killing at least nine people and wounding more than two dozen, according to local police.
Police chief Azmat Ullah said two traffic police officers and a woman were among the dead, and that the blast damaged nearby shops. Most of the casualties were passersby, and traffic police officers were likely the intended target, he added.
No group immediately claimed responsibility. The Pakistani Taliban, known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), later issued a statement saying it had learned of the bombing but was not behind it. The TTP has waged an escalating campaign against security forces in the region.
Tuesday’s attack came days after an assault on a security post in the nearby Bannu district that killed 15 police officers. Pakistan blamed that attack on Afghanistan-based TTP militants and summoned a senior Afghan diplomat to lodge a formal complaint.
Afghan Taliban government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid rejected the accusation on Tuesday. “The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan believes that problems can be resolved through understanding, mutual respect and genuine cooperation, rather than accusations, threats and emotional reactions,” Mujahid wrote on X. He reiterated Kabul’s position that Afghan territory would not be used against any country.
Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif condemned the Lakki Marwat bombing and offered condolences to the victims’ families. He directed authorities to identify and bring to justice those responsible, saying the government was “committed to eliminating terrorism.”
Pakistan has long accused Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers of sheltering militants, a charge Kabul denies. Violence has surged since the Afghan Taliban returned to power in 2021, emboldening the TTP and other groups. Tensions between the two countries have included cross‑border clashes that have killed hundreds since late February. China mediated peace talks in early April, but sporadic fighting has continued, though at a lower intensity than before.