A car bomb attack killed 12 people and wounded dozens more in a Pakistan market on Monday in the northwestern town of Jamrud close to the Afghan border, officials said.
Jamrud is in Khyber district, which is part of Pakistan’s semi-autonomous tribal belt where the Taliban and Al-Qaeda-linked groups have strongholds.
The bomb exploded in a small market near a bus stop, where passengers wait for buses to take them across the northwest and to other parts of the country.
“Twelve people were killed and more than 50 wounded in the blast. The blast also damaged 10 vehicles and more than 15 shops in the market,” local administration official Jehangir Azam told AFP.
His colleague Attar ur-Rehman Orakzai gave the same death toll but said 57 were wounded.
Officials had earlier said nine people were killed.
“According to my initial information, there was an explosive-laden van, which caused the explosion. We are trying to ascertain whether it hit a target or just blew up,” Khyber’s most senior administration official, Mutahir Zeb, told AFP.
Two intelligence officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the explosives had been packed into a Suzuki Alto vehicle.
Pakistan suffers frequent bomb and suicide attacks blamed on Islamist militant groups. Its troops have for years been fighting against homegrown armed groups in the tribal belt.
The government says more than 35,000 people have been killed as a result of terrorism in the country since the 9/11 attacks on the United States.
On Saturday, a suicide squad of five targeted the airport in Peshawar, the main northwestern city close to Jamrud, killing five civilians and blowing a hole in the perimeter wall.
The assault, claimed by the Pakistani Taliban, sparked prolonged gunfire and forced authorities to close the airport, a commercial hub and Pakistan Air Force (PAF) base on the edge of the tribal belt.
It was the second Islamist militant attack in four months on a military air base in nuclear-armed Pakistan.
On Sunday, a policeman and five militants were killed following gunbattles between security forces and militants suspected of having been involved in the airport attack, security officials said.
Bomb attack kills 12 at Pakistan market: officials
