Suicide Bombing in Darazinda Kills Twelve as K-P Chief Minister Demands Federal Action
A suicide bombing struck a joint security checkpoint near Aman Mela in the Darazinda area of Dera Ismail Khan on Saturday, killing at least 12 people and wounding 35, with security personnel bearing the majority of casualties. The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan claimed responsibility for the attack. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi travelled to DI Khan the following day, visited the injured in hospital, and demanded that the federal government supply the province with armoured personnel carriers, saying K-P could no longer absorb such losses without better equipment and federal support.
Suicide Bomber Strikes Police Checkpoint, Killing 12 and Wounding 30
A suicide bombing struck a roadside police checkpoint in the Dera Ismail Khan district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Saturday, killing at least 12 people and wounding 30 others, local police told Al Jazeera. The attack took place in the Darazinda area, with police confirming both the death toll and the number of injured to international media. Security personnel made up most of those killed and wounded at the checkpoint, according to police. Witnesses near the scene reported that gunshots were also heard after the initial explosion, indicating armed activity continued in the immediate aftermath of the blast. The suicide bombing targeted a roadside checkpoint in northwestern Pakistan, where police had been maintaining a security presence in the district. Al Jazeera received the casualty and incident information directly from local police, placing the death toll at twelve and the wounded at thirty. The witness accounts of gunfire following the blast suggested the attack may have involved coordination beyond the bomber alone, though the full circumstances remained under investigation at the time of initial reporting. The attack on the Darazinda checkpoint was reported on September 26, 2026. [1]
K-P Chief Minister Demands Armoured Vehicles After Darazinda Attack
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi held a press conference at Al-Amin House in Dera Ismail Khan on Sunday, alongside former K-P chief minister Ali Amin Gandapur, to demand that the federal government provide the province with armoured personnel carriers. Afridi said the provincial government had already made payment for the APCs and expressed frustration that they had not been delivered, directing criticism at the federal government over what he described as its failure to support K-P in the security crisis. His remarks came a day after a TTP suicide bomber struck a joint checkpoint near Aman Mela in the Darazinda area of DI Khan, killing at least 12 people and injuring 35. A further casualty occurred when a Rescue 1122 official was killed and two others seriously injured when an ambulance transporting blast victims came under fire near Daraban. Afridi said both civilians and Pakistan Army personnel were being martyred and that the provincial government had allocated Rs35 billion to its police force for maintaining peace. He said the people of K-P wanted peace and stressed that the province was bearing the brunt of the ongoing wave of terrorism across the country. [3]
🗳️ Chief Minister Urges Federal Centre to Consult K-P on Terrorism Policy
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi, speaking from Dera Ismail Khan and Batkhela on Sunday, stated that the provincial government did not seek confrontation with the federal government but wanted terrorism eliminated, peace established, and the lives of soldiers, police personnel, and civilians protected. He called on the federal Centre to recognise the gravity of the security situation and to consult those with direct experience of the problem, rather than repeatedly pursuing the same approach to counterterrorism. Afridi made clear that K-P sought cooperation rather than conflict with Islamabad, while insisting that the federal government needed to alter how it engaged with the security crisis in the province. His remarks were filed from the field by The News reporters Mudassar Tahir Azikhel and Qayyum Nawaz Babar and appeared under a joint DI Khan and Batkhela dateline, indicating the chief minister addressed journalists from multiple locations in the district that day. The statement complemented the broader pressure Afridi was applying to the Centre in the immediate aftermath of the Darazinda checkpoint attack, reinforcing the message that K-P could not continue to face the terrorism crisis without meaningful federal partnership. [7]
Sources: [1] Al Jazeera · [3] The Express Tribune · [7] The News Pakistan