A bomb blast struck a market in Bajaur, near Pakistan’s border with Afghanistan, on 2 July, killing at least four people—including a senior and a second local government official as well as two police officers—and injuring 11 others, according to senior police officer Waqas Rafiq. Islamic State’s regional affiliate, ISIS-K, said it detonated a motorcycle loaded with explosives as the officials’ vehicle passed. The provincial Counter-Terrorism Department has registered a case, recovered fragments of the improvised explosive device and the motorcycle, and says it has identified seven suspected militants linked to the attack. The explosion comes amid a surge in militant violence in north-west Pakistan. Only four days earlier, 16 soldiers were killed in nearby North Waziristan in an assault claimed by the Pakistani Taliban. Security analysts note that roughly 300 people—most of them members of the security forces—have died in insurgent attacks nationwide since the start of the year.