Suicide bomber kills two, wounds five in Pakistan

A Taliban suicide bomber targeted a senior police officer in northwest Pakistan on Thursday, killing at least two policemen and wounding five other people, officials said.

Malik Tariq, the deputy commandant of the Frontier Reserve Police (FRP) was critically wounded in the attack in Peshawar, the capital of troubled Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

“The bomber was on a motorcycle and he rammed it into the vehicle of Malik Tariq who was on his way to the office,” Mian Saeed, a senior police official told reporters at the scene.

He said one policeman was killed on the spot and another died later from his injuries. Another four officers were wounded.

The FRP is an auxiliary force that can be called up to help the regular police in times of need.

Rana Umar Hayat, another senior police official confirmed the attack and causalities and told AFP that Tariq was in a critical condition in a government hospital.

Hayat said the vehicle was destroyed in the blast, also wounding two passersby.

A spokesman for the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) claimed the attack in a statement on the group’s website.

Pakistan has been battling a homegrown Islamist insurgency for over a decade following the late 2001 US-led invasion of Afghanistan.

The Pakistan army began a major campaign against Taliban and other militant strongholds in the North Waziristan tribal area in June last year and authorities have now vowed to intensify operations both in the border regions and across the country.