Pakistan: Blast kills four, injures 11 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province

Islamabad, July 2 (IANS) At least four people, including senior provincial government officials, were killed and 11 others injured in a powerful roadside bomb blast targetting a convoy in Pakistan's northwest Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on Wednesday, officials said.

The explosion took place near Phatak Mela area along Nawagai Road in Bajaur district, where a double-cabin vehicle carrying two senior government officials, including Assistant Commissioner of Nawagai Faisal Sultan, was struck by an improvised explosive device, local police said.

The blast killed both officials on the spot, along with two policemen who were accompanying them.

A Rescue 1122 official told Xinhua news agency that the bomb was planted near the roadside and detonated remotely as the convoy was passing by a local fairground.

Several of the injured were in critical condition and were shifted to Khar District Headquarters Hospital for treatment.

Following the blast, rescue teams and law enforcement forces rushed to the site. A search operation was underway to locate and apprehend those behind the deadly attack.

On June 28, at least 13 soldiers were killed and 29 others, including 19 civilians, injured in a terror attack in North Waziristan district of Pakistan's northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

A military unit that was on its bomb disposal duties in the Khadi Market of the Mir Ali area of North Waziristan was attacked by a suicide bomber who rammed an explosive vehicle into a vehicle of the bomb-disposal unit.

The indiscriminate firing that followed at the security personnel left 13 soldiers dead and 10 others injured.

The firing also caused injuries to 19 civilians, including women and children, in the area.

A faction named Usood-ul-Harb of the banned terrorist organisation Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) claimed the attack.

--IANS

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