MIR ALI, Pakistan — A devastating suicide bombing in Pakistan’s volatile northwestern region has killed at least 13 soldiers and wounded more than two dozen others, including civilians and children, in one of the deadliest attacks on the country’s military this year, reported by Al Jazeera News.
The explosion occurred Saturday in Khadi Market, in the town of Mir Ali, North Waziristan — a known flashpoint in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. According to local officials, a suicide attacker rammed an explosive-laden vehicle into a convoy of army personnel near a bomb disposal unit.
Security sources confirmed to local outlet Khyber Chronicles that the blast killed 13 military personnel on the spot. At least 24 others, including 14 civilians, were injured in the powerful explosion that also brought down the roofs of nearby homes, injuring at least six children.
The Hafiz Gul Bahadur group, a splinter faction of the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), has claimed responsibility for the attack. The group has been linked to numerous assaults on security forces in the region.
The Pakistani military has yet to release an official statement, but authorities have cordoned off the area and launched a search operation. The bombing marks a grim continuation of rising militancy in Pakistan’s border areas, where violence has surged since the Taliban’s return to power in neighboring Afghanistan in 2021.
Islamabad has repeatedly accused Kabul of harboring militants responsible for cross-border attacks, a claim the Afghan Taliban deny.
According to an AFP tally, nearly 290 people — predominantly security personnel — have died in militant attacks across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan since the beginning of 2025.
Saturday’s blast underscores the fragile security situation in the region, raising fresh concerns over Pakistan’s counterterrorism strategy and border management.
