Islamabad, May 11 The death toll from an attack on police personnel at a checkpoint in the Bannu district of Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province has climbed to 15, local media reported on Monday.
A militant outfit identified as Ittehad-ul-Mujahideen Pakistan (IMP) claimed responsibility for the bombing through social media channels.
Reports suggest that between Saturday and Sunday night, the armed group rammed an explosives-laden vehicle into the Fateh Khel police checkpoint in Bannu, reducing the structure to rubble in the massive blast.
According to police, the militants resorted to indiscriminate firing from multiple directions after the blast, resulting in hours of heavy gunfire, further explosions, and widespread panic across the area.
Bannu Regional Police Officer (RPO) Sajjad Khan said that a total of 18 police personnel were deployed at the checkpoint during the attack.
"Of them, 15 embraced martyrdom on the spot, while three sustained serious injuries," leading Pakistani daily Express Tribune quoted the police official as saying.
The explosion also resulted in extensive damage to residential buildings and other structures in the vicinity.
Following the attack, an emergency was declared in all three major hospitals of Bannu, while Rescue 1122 teams reached the site and transported the injured and the deceased to hospitals.
Meanwhile, the Pakistani Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Monday summoned the Afghan charge d'affaires and handed a "strong demarche" over the militant attack in Bannu on May 9.
According to the ministry, the attack killed 15 police personnel and injured four others, including a civilian.
Pakistan has witnessed a surge in militant attacks in its northwestern regions bordering Afghanistan in recent months, particularly targetting security personnel and law enforcement agencies.
Earlier this month, one police constable was killed and two others injured after armed assailants targetted a police vehicle in a rocket attack at Kangar Jan Bahadur in Bannu.
The incident took place when a police vehicle from the Fateh Khel checkpoint was targetted with a rocket attack while personnel were heading back to police lines.
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