Suicide blast targeting police kills 9 in northern Pakistan

At least nine people were killed and 34 others wounded in an explosion that took place on Friday in Peshawar city of northern Pakistani Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, said officials. A senior police official, DSP Banaras Khan in a statement said that the blast appeared to have targeted a police mobile van and was carried by a suicide bomber. The dead included policemen and wounded women, children and the Station House Officer of a police station. According to Shafqat Malik, AIG of the Bomb Disposal Squad (BDS), at least eight kilograms of explosives were used in the blast. Another senior police official, SP Cantt Faisal Kamran confirmed the death toll in the blast and told that the explosion took place in Sarband, an area in the suburbs of Peshawar. He added that the suicide bomber has tried to target police APC at Bhattal Thall locality when it was passing through area and exploded himself up near it. The security forces and rescue teams immediately reached the site of the incident. A search operation was carried and injured people were shifted to the nearby Lady Reading Hospital where an emergency was imposed. Peshawar, the provincial capital has seen frequent attacks by militants in the past few years. The blast came a day after the members of the committee nominated by Pakistani Taliban to hold dialogues with government reached northern Pakistani tribal area bordering Afghanistan. The meeting is aimed at deciding a time and venue for the Taliban shura's talks with the new government committee that would leave for tribal region soon after the details become clear.