Bombing kills nearly dozen in Pakistan’s Peshawar

Nearly a dozen people, mostly civilians, have lost their lives after a bomb explosion ripped through a police checkpoint in northwestern Pakistan.

Officials said Tuesday 11 people were killed and 21 more wounded when a bomber detonated his explosives near the checkpoint on the outskirts of Peshawar, the capital of Pakistan’s troubled Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

“During duty hours, a man arrived here either on a motorcycle or bicycle, he stopped the vehicle and blew himself up,” an unidentified policeman told Reuters Television.

There were two children and five police officers among the victims.

Scores of security forces have been deployed in the area following the explosion, local media reported, adding the death toll is likely to increase.

The explosion was carried out by a remote-controlled device, according to eyewitnesses. Unconfirmed reports said gunfire was heard shortly after the explosion.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack, but the blast took place in a region where the Pakistani military has recently stepped up its offensive against militants.

Peshawar has been the scene of numerous attacks perpetrated by members of pro-Taliban militant groups.

The army has intensified its offensive against militant hideouts across the troubled northwestern tribal regions since late 2014, when militants killed nearly 150 people, mainly children, in an attack on an army-run school in Peshawar.

Pakistani officials say almost 3,000 militants have so far been killed in the operations.

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