Eight killed in twin attacks in Pakistan’s northwest

At least eight people have been killed and dozens of others wounded in twin attacks in northwestern Pakistan, officials say.

Local officials said gunmen on motorcycles first struck a security post on the outskirts of the northwestern city of Dera Ismail Khan early on Sunday, killing at least two policemen. The attackers fled the scene.

Later, a female assailant detonated her explosives at a government hospital where the bodies of the policemen from the first attack had been transferred to.

“In addition to those killed in the [firing], two policemen and four civilians were killed in the hospital explosion,” district police chief Saleem Riaz said. “About seven kilograms of explosives were used.”

At least 30 people were wounded from the force of the explosion at the District Headquarters hospital, the official said.

The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) claimed responsibility for the attacks in a statement sent to local media.

SS