JOIN USA suicide bomber blew himself up targeting a senior security forces official near the US consulate in Peshawar city of northwest Pakistan today, killing 12 people and injuring 25 others, officials said.
The attacker, who was on a motorcycle, detonated his explosive vest when the convoy of Frontier Constabulary commandant Abdul Majeed Khan Marwat slowed down near a check post in Sadar area within Peshawar cantonment.
Marwat remained safe though his vehicle was damaged. Six persons, including two women, were killed instantly while six others succumbed to their injuries in Lady Reading Hospital, officials said. Two security personnel were among the dead.
Officials said four Frontier Constabulary personnel were among the injured. Some of the wounded were in a serious condition, they said. Marwat told the media that his convoy was the target of the attack. He said the explosion occurred a short distance from his vehicle.
Other officials said the bomber's suicide vest contained an estimated 10 kg of explosives. The bomber struck Marwat's convoy at a short distance from the US Consulate.
Footage on television showed several vehicles and motorcycles were damaged by the explosion. Ambulances rushed the injured to hospital as paramilitary personnel and army soldiers cordoned off the area.
Witnesses said they had seen the body parts and the head of the suicide bomber.
No group claimed responsibility for the blast though such attacks are usually blamed on the banned Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan.
In August 2010, then Frontier Constabulary commandant Sifwat Ghayur was killed in a similar suicide attack on his convoy in the same area of Peshawar.