A suicide bomber has attacked a security checkpoint in the northwest of Pakistan, killing at least four policemen and wounding another 12 people.
A religious leader and a woman were among those injured in Wednesday’s attack.
The assailant drove a car into the checkpoint on the edge of the northwestern city of Peshawar, police said.
“The policemen were on their routine duty when the bomber driving the car from the tribal area detonated explosives near the checkpost,” Najmul Hasan, a police official, told the Reuters news agency.
Liaquat Ali, a Peshawar city police chief, said that two of the wounded people were in a critical condiditon.
“The small building at the police checkpoint was destroyed. A nearby house and a mosque were also damaged,” he said.
The northwestern region is at the forefront of Pakistan’s battle against Taliban, al-Qaeda and other opposition groups who launch attacks from the tribal mountainous area both within Pakistan and bordering Afghanistan.
US drones – unmanned aircraft – also carry out missions against these fighters in the region.
The Pakistani military have increased attempts to gain control of the northwest over the last year, launching major offensives and killing hundreds of opposition fighters.
But opposition groups have continued to function, carrying out about 50 bomb attacks in the last year, killing about 500 people.
Source: Agencies