LOWER SOUTH WAZIRISTAN/LAKKI MARWAT/KHYBER: Four people, including two policemen, were martyred and at least 32 others, including police officials, suffered injuries in bomb blasts in three Khyber Pakhtunkhwa districts on Saturday.

Two policemen were martyred and four policemen and 18 civilians were injured as an improvised explosive device went off at the main gate of a supermarket in the busy Rustam Bazaar of Wana town in Lower South Waziristan tribal district at around 5pm.

Police cordoned off the area and began an investigation.

They said the explosion occurred when policemen were present in the bazaar on a routine patrol.

The police said the explosive material planted near the main gate of the supermarket was detonated, killing two policemen and injuring other police personnel and civilians.

Girl dies in Jamrud as boulder hits her during detonation of explosives

DSP of Wana Circle Asghar Ali Shah said the police were probing whether it was a remote controlled or a timed device.

Residents, police personnel and rescue teams shifted the injured to the district headquarters hospital in Wana.

Medical superintendent of the hospital Dr Jan Mohammad said two policemen were brought to the hospital dead, while the injured included four policemen and 18 civilians. He said the hospital received a total of 22 injured people, including the elderly, children and youth, who were given immediate care.

DSP Asghar Shah said additional SHO Momin, who was also among the injured, had been shifted to Scouts Hospital Wana due to critical condition.

He said the police had initiated a formal investigation to determine the nature of the blast and identify culprits, while security had been tightened in the area.

Meanwhile, two people were killed and 10 injured in the bomb explosion in Serai-i-Naurang area in Lakki Marwat district on Saturday night.

A police official said miscreants planted the explosive material in a motorcycle, which was parked outside the battery shop of Shoaib Khan, the brother of police official Khalid Khan.

He said the blast killed Shoaibur Rehman, 25, and Furqanullah,19, and injured 10 people.

The official said soon after the blast, a large police contingent launched a search for culprits in the area.

He also said a sanitisation and clearance operation was carried out to defuse any other IED planted by terrorists.

The police also beefed up security and increased patrols on roads across the district.

A Rescue 1122 official confirmed two deaths and said the bodies and the injured were transported to the tehsil headquarters hospital in ambulances and public transport vehicles.

Also in the day, a teenage girl was killed in Jamrud area of Khyber tribal district after being hit by a boulder during the detonation of explosives by security forces. A boulder from a nearby hillock fell on a house when security forces were detonating unexploded explosive materials in the hilly area.

A 13-year-old girl suffered critical injuries in the incident who was immediately shifted to a hospital but succumbed to injuries.

Meanwhile, drug smugglers held a police official hostage during a raid on their den in the hilly Ali Masjid area.

Additional SHO Ali Masjid Islam Shah was later released after the kidnappers snatched his automatic gun and bulletproof jacket.

The incident occurred as the additional SHO, along with his private guards, raided a den of drug smugglers but faced resistance by outlaws.

A video of the incident later went viral on social media, drawing people’s criticism of the police’s “unprofessional approach” for crime control.

DPO Waqar Ahmad took notice of the incident, suspended the relevant police official and ordered an inquiry against him.

Published in Dawn, March 8th, 2026