(Islamabad) A policeman was killed and three others injured in an explosion targeting a convoy of ambassadors in northwest Pakistan on Sunday, police said.
The convoy, which included the Russian ambassador and diplomats from Portugal, Iran, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Bosnia, Zimbabwe, Rwanda and Vietnam, was in Malam Jabba in the Swat Valley in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, which borders Afghanistan, when it was hit by the explosion.
“One policeman succumbed to his injuries and three others were injured in the incident,” Swat police chief Zahidullah Khan told AFP.
“The diplomats were travelling in a police convoy and it was the lead vehicle that was hit,” he added.
The diplomats were on a tour organised by Islamabad and the Swat Chamber of Commerce to promote local trade renowned for its handicrafts and precious stones, Khan said. “No diplomat was injured in the incident,” he added.
A senior police official, Muhammad Ali Khan Gandapur, confirmed the reports.
Pakistan’s foreign ministry said the diplomats had returned safely to Islamabad and said it was “determined to fight terrorism.” The Russian embassy in Islamabad confirmed on Telegram that its ambassador was in the convoy.
“On the way to the hotel, a vehicle escorting the convoy drove over a mine. Several police officers were injured, but the diplomats were not affected,” the embassy said.
The attack has not been claimed so far, but the region is a stronghold of the Pakistani Taliban (TTP), who were trained to fight in Afghanistan and who advocate the same ideology as the Afghan Taliban.
From 2007 to 2009, they killed thousands of civilians and took control of several areas before being pushed back by the army.
They still have sleeper cells today, and Islamabad accuses the Taliban in power in Kabul of failing to eliminate militants who are taking refuge on their Afghan soil to prepare attacks against Pakistan.
The Taliban government denies the accusations, but relations between Islamabad and Kabul have deteriorated over the issue.