A Taliban suicide bomber on Tuesday blew himself up near a checkpost in Pakistan’s restive northwest, killing at least 11 people, including security personnel and children, and injuring over 30 others in the rush-hour attack.
The bombing, that comes within a week by the outlawed group, occurred near the vehicle of line officer Nawab Shah in Jamrud area of Khyber tribal region, police said.
The explosive device was planted in a motorbike, it said. The dead include police, civilians and at least one child and officials said the casualties are feared to rise. Some reports also put the number of children killed at 2.
As many as 31 others were injured when the bomb exploded beside a busy road. A journalist, Mehboob Shah Afridi, besides the target, Shah, were also killed in the attack, the Express Tribune reported. Eyewitnesses said cars and the area around the site of the blast were engulfed in fire.
Khyber is part of Pakistan’s semi-autonomous tribal belt on the Afghan border where security forces are fighting the Pakistani Taliban. The outlawed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) claimed responsibility for the attack, the report said.