One killed in IED blast in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province

Peshawar, Jan 5 (PTI) At least one person was killed, and eight were injured on Monday when an improvised explosive device (IED) targeted a vehicle carrying factory workers in Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
    According to police spokesperson Qudratullah, the blast occurred near the Nawar Khel area on Begokhel Road in the restive Lakki Marwat district.
    The vehicle was transporting workers of a cement factory when it was hit by the explosion, police said.
    Hospital spokesperson Dr Kifayat Bettani confirmed that two of the injured were in critical condition.
    In a separate statement, police said that Lakki Marwat District Police Officer Nazir Khan rushed to the scene along with a heavy police contingent soon after the incident.
    The area was cordoned off, and a large-scale search operation was launched.
    The statement quoted the DPO as saying that the “cowardly act” was aimed at “disrupting the peace of the area.”
    He added that police remained on high alert and that “all possible steps” were being taken to protect the lives and property of the people.
    Pakistan witnessed a sharp escalation in militant violence in 2025 despite record militant deaths. Terrorist attacks rose by 34 per cent, while terrorism-related fatalities increased by 21 per cent year-on-year.
    A total of 699 terrorist attacks were recorded across the country during the year.
    The violence claimed at least 1,034 lives and left 1,366 people injured, reflecting a continued upward trend in militancy since the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan in 2021, according to data released by the Islamabad-based Pak Institute for Peace Studies.
    In a separate incident on Sunday, four police personnel, including three traffic police officials, were killed in firing by unknown armed men in the Lakki Marwat and Bannu districts.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)