Roadside bomb kills 2 policemen in northwestern Pakistan

People and motorcyclists drive through Qissa Khwani market in the downtown of Peshawar, the capital of Pakistan's northwest Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province bordering Afghanistan, Friday, Oct. 8, 2021. (AP Photo/Muhammad Sajjad)

KHAR, Pakistan -

A remotely detonated roadside bomb killed two policemen on Saturday in a northwestern district in Pakistan that borders Afghanistan, authorities said.

According to the Bajur district police chief, Abdus Samad Khan, the two officers were on security duty near the Raghan Dam, when unknown assailants set off the bomb, killing both.

No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. Khan said a search for the perpetrators was underway.

Bajur served as a sanctuary for the Pakistani Taliban -- known as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan -- until the area was cleared of militants in military operations in recent years. The militant group, which is separate from the Afghan Taliban, was involved in attacks on security forces in the past but is currently in peace talks with the government. A monthlong cease-fire was announced Tuesday.

Also on Saturday, a home-made bomb rigged to a parked motorcycle exploded near a market in the southwestern city of Quetta, wounding five people. Police officer Asmat Ullah said a girl, her mother and a policeman were among the wounded. He said the child was in critical condition but her mother was stable.

No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.

And in the southwestern Baluchistan province, two soldiers were killed Saturday in a shootout that erupted during a raid on suspected militants in the Hoshab area near the city of Turbat. The military said the raid was carried out following intelligence gathered on the suspected militants. It said the militants suffered heavy losses but did not elaborate.

Baluchistan has long been the scene of a low-level insurgency by Baluch separatists.

The military also said that another soldier died from a roadside bomb in the area of Lakki Marwat in the country's northwest.