Suicide blast in Peshawar kills police superintendent

—Reuters Photo
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 PESHAWAR: A suicide attack on Thursday killed a senior Pakistani police officer and wounded his bodyguard in the northwestern city of Peshawar, troubled by a new wave of violence, police said.


“Police Superintendent Kalam Khan died in the blast and his driver and a guard were injured,” police officer Tahir Ayub said.


 “The bomber came on foot and detonated explosives strapped to his body near Khan’s jeep,” bomb disposal squad chief Hukum Khan said.


 “We have found the bomber’s head,” he added.


 The incident took place on a road under construction in Peshawar’s Pishta Khara neighbourhood that meant Khan’s car had to drive slowly, police said.


 Khan had been on his way to work in the suburban town of Badaber, where a suicide attack killed 15 people at a funeral on Sunday.


 It lies close to Bara town, a stronghold of local warlord Mangal Bagh, who is linked to Islamist militants.


 Peshawar has a population of 2.5 million people and has long been on the frontline of violence blamed on an insurgency led by Taliban militants opposed to Islamabad’s alliance with the United States.


 Islamist militants have killed more than 4,900 people across Pakistan since government troops raided an extremist mosque in Islamabad in July 2007.