ISLAMABAD (AP) – The suicide bomber who rammed his car into a police station’s main gate in Pakistan’s northwest used 120 kilogrammes of explosives, authorities said. The attack – one of the deadliest in months – killed 23 officers and wounded 32 others the day before.
Head of the bomb disposal unit Inayat Ullah said the explosives were fitted in the suicide attacker’s vehicle.
The assault – which also included five other militants opening fire before officers gunned them down – targeted Daraban police station in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, which borders Afghanistan and is a former stronghold of the Pakistani Taleban, or TTP.
The militant Tehreek-e-Jihad Pakistan group – believed to be an offshoot of the TTP – claimed responsibility for the attack.
A large number of security forces from across Pakistan were recently deployed at the station for intelligence operations against militants in the area in coordination with the local police, authorities said.
