A suicide bombing in Pakistan kills eight people at a checkpoint in the west of the country

A suicide bomber exploded at a checkpoint in western Pakistan on Saturday, killing eight people and wounding five others, officials said.

The bomber triggered the explosion from the back of a motorcycle rickshaw near the town of Mir Ali in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, a local police official said on condition of anonymity.

Four police officers were killed in the attack near the border with Afghanistan, as well as two members of a state paramilitary force and two civilians, he said.

Militancy has risen in Pakistan since the Afghan Taliban returned to power in 2021, with Islamabad claiming that hostile groups are now using the neighboring country as a haven.

“The condition of three of the five injured is critical and they have been shifted to a local military hospital,” the police officer said.