Suicide blast kills 1 in NW Pakistan

By Aamir Latif

KARACHI, Pakistan (AA) - A suicide bomber Wednesday rammed his explosive-laden motorbike into a van carrying judges and court employees, killing at least one person and injuring at least another four in northwestern Pakistan, police and local media reported.

The blast, which occurred in Peshawar, the capital of the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhawa (KP) province that borders neighboring Afghanistan, killed the driver and injured four judges, Mushtaq Ghani, the provincial information minister, told reporters.

The injured judges were in stable condition, city police chief Sajjad Khan told reporters.

This was the third suicide attack in Pakistan -- second on Wednesday alone -- in the last three days suggesting that the militants, who were said to be on the run amid an ongoing military operation against them, had managed to regroup and launch renewed attacks.

Earlier on Wednesday, five people, including three paramilitary troops, were killed in another suicide attack in the Mohmand Agency tribal region near the Afghan border.

At least 15 people were killed and over 90 injured when a suicide bomber blew himself up near a protest in the northeastern city of Lahore on Monday.

Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), a consortium of various militant groups in Pakistan, and its splinter faction, Jamaat-ul-Ahrar have claimed responsibility for the recent attacks.