At least 17 people, including four children, were killed and nearly 50 injured on Sunday when a powerful remote-controlled bomb targeted a passing convoy of security forces near a busy market here in northwest Pakistan.
The blast, believed to be an IED explosion, targeted the convoy of Frontier Corps on their way to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s capital Peshawar from Kohat district but narrowly missed it.
Javed Marwat, Deputy Commissioner of Peshawar, said, “17 people were killed in the remote control blast.”
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In South Waziristan, a rocket attack killed four people and injured 12 others while in the North Waziristan tribal region, a roadside bomb killed three security personnel, officials said.
Mr. Marwat told reporters that the injured were shifted to Lady Reading Hospital and condition of some of them were critical.
According to police‚ the bomb was planted in a car and was triggered when the convoy approached was passing through Badaber area of Peshawar.
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Bomb Disposal Squad official Abdul Haq said 40-50 kg of explosives were used in the blast, which also destroyed 10 vehicles and several shops.
After the blast‚ gunshots were exchanged between security forces and the terrorists.
No group claimed responsibility for the attack.
President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif have strongly condemned the blast.