Bomb kills two, wounds five at Pakistan-Afghan border crossing

A bomb in a pushcart killed at least two people and wounded five others Friday at the main border crossing between Pakistan and Afghanistan, officials said.

The blast came at the Torkham crossing, the main frontier post in Pakistan’s restive northwest. The bomb was apparently hidden in a pushcart used by travellers to ferry goods across the frontier.

“The bomb killed one person on the spot and another died of his injuries while on his way to hospital,” senior local administration official Daftar Khan told AFP, updating the earlier toll of one killed and six wounded.

Khan said one of the five injured was in a serious condition and doctors were struggling to save his life.

He added both of the dead were Afghan nationals, whose bodies were later handed over to Afghan authorities at the border crossing.

Another senior local administration official, Tayyab Abdullah, also confirmed the incident and casualties.

Torkham lies in Khyber region, one of the seven semi-autonomous tribal districts where the military has been battling Taliban and Al-Qaeda-linked militants for over a decade.

The border crossing has been used extensively by NATO supply convoys transporting goods overland from Pakistan’s main port Karachi to forces in Afghanistan.

The Pakistan army began a major campaign against Taliban and other militant strongholds in the North Waziristan tribal area in June last year and authorities have now vowed to intensify operations both in the border regions and across the country.