PESHAWAR, Pakistan -- A suicide attack in northwestern Pakistan has targeted a paramilitary police force commander, killing at least 10 people and wounding at least 25 others.
RFE/RL’s Radio Mashaal reports that Abdul Majeed Marwat's convoy was passing through a military checkpoint on Fakhr-i-Alam road in Peshawar on March 29 when a suicide bomber set off his explosives.
A hospital source told Radio Mashaal that Marwat, the commander of the Frontier Constabulary for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province, was injured, but it's not clear how seriously. The source said six of the dead, all civilians, and 11 of the wounded were brought to the Lady Reading Hospital.
Four others who were killed, including two soldiers, and at least a dozen wounded were brought to the Combined Military Hospital.
Mohammed Bilal, a worker at Al-Khidmat Foundation, a Pakistani nongovernmental organization providing humanitarian services, was at the scene of the explosion and later spoke to Radio Mashaal.
"There was a suicide attack on the commander’s vehicle,” he said. “When army ambulances arrived, they didn't let us help. They took their injured [personnel] to the Combined Military Hospital. The suicide bomber's body parts are in my vehicle. The bomb disposal squad told me to take these parts to the relevant police station."
The attack happened only about 200 meters from the heavily guarded U.S. Consulate in Peshawar, which has been attacked before.
Local Pakistani officials said there was no indication that the consulate was the target.
Pakistani Taliban spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan claimed responsibility for the attack in a call to Radio Mashaal.
Pakistani security forces have come under frequent attack by the Taliban militants in areas near the border with Afghanistan.
There has been a recent increase in violence ahead of the country's general elections set for May 11.
RFE/RL’s Radio Mashaal reports that Abdul Majeed Marwat's convoy was passing through a military checkpoint on Fakhr-i-Alam road in Peshawar on March 29 when a suicide bomber set off his explosives.
A hospital source told Radio Mashaal that Marwat, the commander of the Frontier Constabulary for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province, was injured, but it's not clear how seriously. The source said six of the dead, all civilians, and 11 of the wounded were brought to the Lady Reading Hospital.
Four others who were killed, including two soldiers, and at least a dozen wounded were brought to the Combined Military Hospital.
Mohammed Bilal, a worker at Al-Khidmat Foundation, a Pakistani nongovernmental organization providing humanitarian services, was at the scene of the explosion and later spoke to Radio Mashaal.
"There was a suicide attack on the commander’s vehicle,” he said. “When army ambulances arrived, they didn't let us help. They took their injured [personnel] to the Combined Military Hospital. The suicide bomber's body parts are in my vehicle. The bomb disposal squad told me to take these parts to the relevant police station."
The attack happened only about 200 meters from the heavily guarded U.S. Consulate in Peshawar, which has been attacked before.
Local Pakistani officials said there was no indication that the consulate was the target.
Pakistani Taliban spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan claimed responsibility for the attack in a call to Radio Mashaal.
Pakistani security forces have come under frequent attack by the Taliban militants in areas near the border with Afghanistan.
There has been a recent increase in violence ahead of the country's general elections set for May 11.