PESHAWAR, Pakistan, March 7, (AFP) - At least seven members of the Pakistani security forces and three civilians were killed today in separate bombings on the outskirts of the northwestern city of Peshawar, officials said.
Residents in the village of Badaber had alerted police to a suspicious car parked on a roadside with a man's body inside. As police approached the vehicle, the car blew up, local police station chief Gran Ullah told AFP.
 |
| Pakistani policemen collect evidence after an explosion on security forces on the outskirts of Peshawar yesterday. AFP |
“Five policemen and two paramilitary soldiers were killed in the bomb blast,” Ullah said. “A pedestrian also died in the blast.”Bomb disposal squad chief Hukam Khan said the bomb, which weighed more than 30 kilogrammes (66 pounds), was detonated by remote control.
Separately, two passers-by were killed when a bomb targeting a paramilitary forces convoy exploded in the semi-tribal region of Darra Adam Khel, outside Peshawar.
“Two civilians were killed and four others were injured when a bomb planted on a roadside exploded just as a paramilitary forces convoy moved into the area,” local administration official Atif Khan told AFP.
A paramilitary forces spokesman said the troops escaped unhurt.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attacks, but Taliban militants have carried out several bombings in the area, which is the gateway to Pakistan's rugged lawless tribal districts bordering Afghanistan.
Taliban and Al-Qaeda militants have been holed up in the tribal areas since the US-led invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001 that sparked the fall of the Taliban regime in Kabul.
|
E-mail