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Pakistan suicide bomb kills five | |
(about 8 hours later) | |
At least five policemen have been killed after a suicide car bomber targeted a checkpoint in the Pakistani city of Peshawar, police say. | |
Civilians are reported to be among at least 10 people - including several policemen - injured in the bombing. | |
Senior police official Liaquat Ali said the attacker rammed his car into a police vehicle. | |
The blast highlights the threat of militancy despite army offensives in the country's tribal regions. | |
The army is attempting to flush out Taliban and al-Qaeda fighters in the area. | |
"The vehicle was coming from the tribal area. It was full of explosives," Mr Ali told the AFP news agency by telephone. | |
Police say that the officers killed were on "routine duty" when the bomber detonated explosives near the checkpoint. | |
Mr Ali said the attacker was apparently trying to make his way into the city but decided to set off his explosives when he was stopped. | |
Militant hub | |
The BBC's M Ilyas Khan in Islamabad says that police are relieved that what appeared to be a concerted effort to bomb a high-profile target was thwarted. | |
Our correspondent says that while militants are still striking in the north routinely, the frequency of their attacks is not the same as it was a few months ago. | |
No group has claimed Wednesday's attack, but the Taliban have carried out dozens of recent bombings. | |
Civilians were killed in the attack | |
Hundreds of people have been killed in militant attacks across Pakistan since the military launched operations against the Taliban last autumn. Peshawar has borne the brunt of this violence. | Hundreds of people have been killed in militant attacks across Pakistan since the military launched operations against the Taliban last autumn. Peshawar has borne the brunt of this violence. |
Peshawar is close to the Mohmand and Khyber regions, part of the semi-autonomous ethnic Pashtun tribal lands along the Afghan border which have become a global Islamist militant hub. | |
The security forces have launched several major offensives in the north-west over the past year, with some success in clearing out insurgent strongholds. | |
But the militants have fought back and carried out suicide and bomb attacks across the country, killing hundreds of people. | |
In a separate development, two teachers are reported to have been kidnapped by suspected militants in Mohmand on Wednesday, hours after four members of a government-backed militia were killed and another abducted in a clash in the same region. |