Terrorists have blown up a gas pipeline in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Lakki Marwat district which supplied gas to Punjab, police said on Wednesday.

Assistant spokesperson to the Lakki Marwar’s district police officer, Qudratullah, said, “The explosion triggered a fire and caused a massive gas leak. The pipeline was attacked in the Torwah seasonal stream area, which provided cover for the perpetrators.”

Calling the incident a “major act of sabotage”, Qudratullah added: The khawarij (terrorist) operatives targeted a key gas pipeline from the Bettani Gas Field to Punjab, using explosives to destroy a main section of the line.“

“Soon after the blast, security forces were dispatched to the site and cordoned off the area,” Qudratullah further said, adding that emergency teams had also been mobilised to control the fire and assess the extent of the damage.

“Investigations are underway to identify and apprehend those involved in the attack,” he said. “Officials have condemned the incident as an assault on critical national infrastructure aimed at destabilising the region and disrupting essential energy supplies.”

Pakistan has witnessed an uptick in terror activities over the past year, especially in KP and Balochistan, after the proscribed Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) ended its ceasefire with the government in November 2022.

Lakki Marwat has long been a hotspot for terrorism and violence, with unrest dating back to the early 2000s. While security operations brought a period of relative calm, militant activity has resurged in recent years, straining local peace efforts and heightening fears of renewed instability.

Earlier this month, three terrorists were killed in the district’s Kot Kashmir area during a gun battle with the police and local peace committee, in which a cop was also martyred.

In May, the police and the commandos of the Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) launched a joint operation against terrorists in rural areas of the district.