LAKKI MARWAT: One person was killed while eight others were injured when a vehicle carrying cement workers was targeted by an improvised explosive device (IED) in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Lakki Marwat district on Monday.

The district police spokesperson, Qudratullah, said that the vehicle, which was carrying cement factory workers, was targeted by Fitna al Khwarij terrorists near Nawar Khel area on Begokhel road.

Fitna al Khawarij is a term the state uses for terrorists belonging to the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).

He said the injured had been taken to the City Hospital. He identified the deceased as Faridullah.

The hospital’s spokesperson, Dr Kifayat Bettani, said that two of the injured were in critical condition. He added that the injured also included two women.

A separate police statement said that soon after the incident was reported, Lakki Marwat District Police Officer (DPO) Nazir Khan arrived at the scene along with a large police contingent. The statement said a large-scale search operation had been launched and the scene cordoned off.

The statement quoted the DPO as saying that the “cowardly act“ was aimed at “disrupting the peace of the area”.

“The injured have been immediately shifted to the hospital, and the elements involved in the explosion will be arrested soon,” he said.

He added that the police were on high alert to maintain peace in the area and “all possible steps” were being taken to protect the lives and property of the people.

The DPO, as well as Bannu Regional Police Officer (RPO) Sajjad Khan, also visited the injured at the hospital, according to two separate statements issued by the police. The statements said they enquired about the well-being of the injured and reviewed the medical assistance being provided to the injured.

The officials instructed the medical staff to provide the best possible treatment to the injured, saying that negligence of any kind would not be tolerated.

They said the injured were their own people and that the police stood with affected citizens in all difficult times, according to the statements.

The officials also extended condolences to the family of the citizen killed in the incident, assuring that those involved in the attack would be brought to justice soon.

They further assured that all resources were being utilised to ensure the protection of the public and that operations against terrorists would be intensified.

The statement issued by the RPO’s office also said that “terrorists were now targeting the public, considering them easy targets after their attacks on police and security forces had failed”.

Despite record militant deaths, Pakistan saw a sharp escalation in militant violence in 2025, with terrorist attacks rising by 34 per cent and terrorism-related fatalities increasing by 21 per cent year on year. As many as 699 terrorist attacks were recorded countrywide during the year.

This violence claimed at least 1,034 lives and left 1,366 injured, underscoring a rising trajectory of militancy that has persisted since the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan in 2021, according to data released by the Islamabad-based Pak Institute for Peace Studies.

On Sunday, four police personnel, including three traffic cops, were martyred in firing by unknown armed men in Khyber Pakhtun­khwa’s Lakki Marwat and Bannu districts.

Police said the three traffic policemen were on duty near the Dil Begu Khel area when unidentified gunmen, riding on a motorcycle, opened fire on them. Meanwhile, a cop in Bannu was martyred in firing by unidentified attac­kers in the district’s Kashfi Khel area.