7 killed, several injured in blast near Peshawar checkpost

At least seven people including a child were killed and as many as 16 injured Tuesday morning when a bomb exploded close to a security check-post near Karkhano Market area in Peshawar, police said.

A large contingent of police and security personnel had reached the location on Jamrud Road, the main highway that links Peshawar to Jamrud in the tribal areas, GEO TV reported.

The bodies and injured were taken to the nearby Hayatabad Medical Complex, while additional police force was dispatched to the site of the blast. According to sources, the President of the FATA Journalists Union Mehboob Shah Afridi was also killed in the explosion.

A spokesperson at the Hayatabad Medical Complex said the hospital had received six bodies, including that of a child.

The exact nature of the blast could not yet be confirmed, but some officials said the explosion the explosion was a suicide attack.

Local government official Munir Khan said the bomber rammed his motorcycle into the roadside checkpoint. "He was riding an explosives-laden motorcycle and hit the checkpoint and the vehicle of the line officer," Khan said.

The attack took place in an area where security forces are fighting the Taliban and other militant groups near the border with Afghanistan.

Source: MENA