5 customs officers killed, Japanese autoworkers targeted in Pakistan attacks

Five customs personnel were killed during an intelligence-based operation (IBO) in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Dera Ismail Khan district on Thursday, Dawn online newspaper reported.

According to a press release from the Directorate General of Intelligence and Investigation Customs, the officials were ambushed by “unknown assailants in a dastardly attack and fired upon with automatic weapons” while conducting the IBO at Daraban Road near Sagguu village around 3:30pm.

In another development today, a suicide bomber detonated his explosive-laden vest near a van carrying Japanese autoworkers in Pakistan’s southern port city of Karachi, injuring three bystanders.

The van was heading to an industrial area where the five Japanese nationals work at Pakistan Suzuki Motors, Al Jazeera reported, adding that the Japanese nationals escaped unhurt.