A suicide bomber today rammed his explosives-laden truck into a police station in this northwest Pakistani city, killing at least four persons and injuring 31 in the seventh terror attack here in 10 days.
The attacker targeted a police station at Badabher on the outskirts of the provincial capital at 7.45 am, police said.
Hospital officials said four persons were killed and two women, nine children and two paramilitary personnel were among the injured.
Earlier, state-run PTV had reported that five persons were killed in the attack. Hospital officials said the death toll was revised after they learnt that a body they received was that of a man killed in an accident.
A mosque and a house near the police station were reduced to rubble while 10 shops, a college and several cars were badly damaged by the powerful blast.
Footage on television showed the facade of several buildings was devastated by the blast.
"The bomber came in a car from the direction of the Khyber Agency. The bomber struck the wall between the police station and the mosque. The mosque collapsed due to the blast and the police station was damaged. A nearby market was also damaged," said Shahibzada Anees, the district administration chief.
Police said the bomber's truck was packed with about 250 kg of explosives.
A paramilitary trooper who was injured in the attack said the bomber detonated his explosives when security personnel fired at the truck.
Policemen cordoned off the area as local residents and rescue workers removed the rubble by hand to pull out the dead and injured. Ambulances ferried bodies and the injured to hospitals, where an emergency was declared.
This was the seventh terrorist attack in Peshawar and its surrounding areas in the past 10 days.
An anti-Taliban mayor in Badabher area escaped an attempt on his life by burqa-clad militants yesterday while 12 people were killed in a suicide car bomb attack on a police check post on the city's outskirts on Saturday.
Two suicide car bombers struck the Inter-Services Intelligence agency's headquarters in Peshawar on Friday, killing 17 people while a Pakistani employee of the Iranian consulate in the city was gunned down a day earlier.
Peshawar has been targeted by militants after a military operation was launched last month in South Waziristan, considered the hub of the local Taliban.
Except for a car bombing in a market in Peshawar that claimed nearly 120 lives, the Taliban have claimed responsibility for most of the attacks.
North West Frontier Province Governor Owais Ghani and Chief Minister Ameer Haider Khan Hoti condemned today's attack and ordered a probe. President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani too condemned the attack and reiterated their resolve to continue the war against terror and not to allow anyone to disrupt peace. PTI
