6 cops killed in suicide blast, shooting at Pak police teams

Six police officers were today killed in two separate attacks in restive areas of Pakistan targetting police teams, including a Taliban suicide bombing on the vehicle of a senior police official who survived the blast but suffered serious injuries.

Two policemen were killed when the suicide bomber wearing an explosive jacket rammed his motorcycle into the vehicle of Deputy Commandant Frontier Reserve Police (FRP) Malik Tariq Khan in a posh locality in this restive northwestern city of Pakistan.

"The bomber was on a motorcycle and he rammed it into the vehicle of Malik Tariq who was on his way to the office," SSP Mian Muhammad Saeed told reporters at the scene at Hayatabad, three kilometres west of Peshawar.

Khan, who was on way to office from home, survived the attack and suffered serious injuries but his condition was said to be stable, according to doctors.
Two policemen Lal Bahadar and Ibrar Hussain were killed while five others, including Khan, sustained injuries and were hospitalised.

Assistant Inspector General of Police (AIG) Bomb Disposal Squad Malik Shafqat told reporters that about seven to eight kilogrammes of explosives were used by the bomber whose target was the FRP Deputy Commandant.

He said body parts of the outlaw besides parts of his destroyed bike have been collected and are being examined.

Khan's vehicle was completely destroyed due to the massive explosion that was heard in nearly two-kilometre radius.

The area has been cordoned off and a search operation is underway.
Spokesman for the Pakistani Taliban Mohammad Khurasani claimed responsibility for the suicide attack and warned of more violence.

In another attack hours later, four police officers were killed when militants opened fire on a police vehicle in the southwestern city of Quetta, police said, adding no outfit has claimed responsibility for the attack.

Quetta, the capital of Baluchistan province, has been witnessing a low-scale insurgency.