7 killed after car bomb accidently explodes in a former stronghold of the Pakistani Taliban

A powerful car bomb accidentally detonated early Thursday in a house in Mir Ali, a former Pakistani Taliban stronghold in northwest Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, killing at least two children and five suspected militants, according to news agency AP.
The explosion occurred before dawn while militant commander Rasool Jan was preparing the bomb in his home, said local police official Irfan Khan. Following the blast, Pakistani Taliban members quickly arrived at the site and retrieved the bodies of the deceased insurgents. Authorities later recovered the bodies of two children from the collapsed house, which was destroyed by the impact.
The blast also caused extensive damage to nearby homes and injured 14 individuals, including women. Some of the injured are in critical condition at a hospital, although further details were not provided.
Police believe the car bomb was intended for an attack in the region, where Pakistani Taliban and other militants frequently target security forces using firearms, rockets, grenades, and suicide bombings.

In a separate incident the same day, a suicide bomber on a motorcycle accidentally triggered an explosive device on a deserted road in Charsadda district, killing himself without injuring anyone else, according to local authorities. Local official Masood Khan stated that investigators were assessing whether the bomber was carrying the explosives or if they were attached to his motorcycle, and the intended target remains unclear.
The Pakistani Taliban, known as

Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan

, operate independently from the Afghan Taliban, though they have been emboldened by the latter’s takeover of Afghanistan in 2021.
(With agency inputs)