San Francisco Frontiers - Car bomb attack in northwest Pakistan kills 12, wounds dozens

The massive explosions and an ensuing gunfight occurred at sunset, as people were breaking their fast during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif denounced "cowardly terrorists who target innocent civilians during the holy month of Ramadan" and "deserve no mercy".

The attack took place in Bannu, a district in Pakistan's turbulent Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province which lies adjacent to the country's formerly self-governed tribal areas.

A security official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told AFP late in the night that the death toll had risen to twelve, including three children and two women, with 32 wounded.

An intelligence official earlier told AFP that 12 militants had attempted to storm the compound after the suicide bombings, and that six of the attackers had been shot dead.

"The blasts created two four-foot craters, and due to their intensity, at least eight houses in the locality have been damaged," a police official said.

The attack was claimed by a faction of the Hafiz Gul Bahadur armed group, which actively supported the Afghan Taliban in its war against the US-led NATO coalition since 2001.

"Our fighters got access to an important target and took control," the group said in a statement, without providing further details.

Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari condemned the attack in a statement as "heinous", saying the "entire nation rejects such despicable acts."

- 'Apocalyptic' -

Plumes of gray smoke rose into the air after the two explosions, while gunshots continued, with gunfire heard from a distance in the area.

"The force of the explosion threw me several feet away... The explosion was so intense that it caused significant damage to the neighbourhood," 40-year-old local Nadir Ali Shah told AFP in hospital, as he received treatment for head and leg injuries.

"It was a scene of apocalyptic devastation," he added.

The attack comes days after a suicide bomber killed six people at an Islamic religious school in Pakistan, attended by key Taliban leaders in the same province.

Similar attacks have increased in Pakistan since the Taliban authorities returned to power in Afghanistan in August 2021.

Hafiz Gul Bahadur carried out another attack on the same compound last July, detonating an explosive-laden vehicle against the boundary wall, killing eight Pakistani soldiers.

Last year was the deadliest in a decade for Pakistan, home to 250 million people, with a surge in attacks that killed more than 1,600 people, according to Islamabad-based analysis group the Center for Research and Security Studies.

The violence is largely limited to the country's border regions with Afghanistan.

Islamabad accuses Kabul's rulers of failing to root out militants sheltering on Afghan soil as they prepare to stage assaults on Pakistan, a charge the Taliban government denies.

U.Lee--SFF