Seven people were killed and three others injured in two explosions in Marka Bera, a semi-tribal mountainous area of Bannu’s Wazir sub-division.
Bannu District Police Officer (DPO) Yasir Afridi confirmed that a total of seven people were martyred and three others were injured in the two blasts.
He said security forces and law enforcement agencies immediately reached the area, collected evidence, and launched an investigation into the incidents.
In a statement, the police said the two vehicles were targeted in “remote-controlled blasts” in the Phang Musa Khel area, calling the incidents a “cowardly act of terrorism”.
According to the statement, a private Datsun vehicle carrying passengers was the first target. The blast ripped through the small car, and the wounded were being rushed to hospital for treatment when a second explosion struck.
Police and local sources said the Datsun was travelling towards Domel when it was hit. Five people were killed in the blast and the vehicle was left completely destroyed, reduced to twisted, smouldering wreckage.
Eyewitnesses reported that the second explosion occurred nearly a kilometre away from the first site. It killed two people and similarly destroyed the vehicle they were in.
Rescue 1122 teams subsequently shifted the bodies and injured victims to Domel Rural Health Centre and Khalifa Gul Nawaz Teaching Hospital, as emergency crews worked amid clouds of smoke and stunned onlookers.