Pakistani security officers and rescue workers gather at the site of a bomb explosion at a mosque in Islamabad, Pakistan, on February 6, 2026.
| Photo Credit: AP

Pakistani security officials stand guard after a powerful car bomb exploded outside a district court in Islamabad, Pakistan, on November 11, 2025
| Photo Credit: AP

A former Pakistan senator running in a by-election was killed on Wednesday along with four others in a targeted attack on their car near the border with Afghanistan.

“It appears that a remote-controlled bomb targeted the car carrying the former senator,” a district police spokesman told AFP, who asked not to be named because he was not authorised to speak to the media. 

“An investigation is currently underway to ascertain the type of explosives used and who was behind it. But miscreants have stepped up their activities in the region lately.” 

Former senator Hidayatullah Khan, his two companions and two police guards were killed in Bajaur district, just 45 kilometres (28 miles) from the Afghan border, in an area where militancy has been rising since the Taliban took control of Kabul in 2021.

The deadly blast took place ahead of by-elections due on July 11 in which he was running as an independent candidate.

In January, a candidate supporting jailed former prime minister Imran Khan was shot dead in the same district ahead of the general elections, in an attack claimed by the local chapter of the Islamic State group.

Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) — a separate group from the Afghan Taliban but with a similar ideology — and groups linked to it are the most active in the region, largely targeting security officials. 

No group has claimed responsibility for Wednesday’s attack, which the TTP denied involvement in.

Last month, the government announced the launch of a new counterterrorism operation to support armed forces in their fight against militancy. 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

“At least two people were killed and 22 others injured when a suicide bomber rammed a vehicle laden with explosives against a convoy of the security forces in Pakistan’s restive northwest region on March 21,” police said.

The incident happened in the Dera Ismail Khan district of the country’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province when the security convoy was on the move from one part of the district to another.

“In the suicide blast, at least two people were killed and 22 others injured. The two deceased are believed to be from the Army. However, it is not confirmed yet,” said a senior police officer. The injured have been shifted immediately to a nearby hospital.

The security forces and the police have rushed to the site and blocked the main Tank-Dera Ismail Khan road for all kinds of traffic. An official of the Bomb Disposal Squad said “we are determining the quantity of the explosives used in the suicide hit”.

The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province is a very restive state and attacks on security forces occur very often. Last week, an armed group attacked a military post in northwestern Pakistan near the border with Afghanistan using a vehicle laden with explosives as well as suicide bombs, killing seven security force members.

In December last year, a total of 23 soldiers were killed when militants linked to a Pakistani Taliban affiliate rammed an explosive-laden vehicle into a security forces’ post in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.