A policeman was killed on Sunday when an explosive device planted on a motorcycle detonated in the Manga area of Chakesar tehsil, in Shangla district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The officer was identified as Constable Qaimoos Khan.

District Police Officer Ikramullah said unidentified suspects had planted the explosive on the motorcycle overnight, and the constable was travelling to duty when it went off, The Pakistan Daily reported, citing ARY News.

No other casualties were reported in the blast. No group had claimed responsibility for the attack at the time of reporting, and no official statement from the Shangla district police had been reported.

The killing is the latest in a run of targeted attacks on police personnel across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in recent weeks. On Tuesday 3 November, two police officers escorting polio vaccination teams were shot dead in Mohmand district, while a third officer was wounded.

Chakesar is one of four sub-tehsils of Shangla, a mountainous district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's Malakand division, where police posts and patrols have been frequent targets.

Police in the province have repeatedly been singled out while on routine duty, and the Shangla blast underlines the pressure on officers working in the province's mountain districts. Further details, including who planted the device and how it was detonated, had not been established when the incident was first reported.