Eight killed in Pakistan blast

ISLAMABAD - At least eight people were killed and over 50 injured Monday in a suicide blast targeting a police station in Lakki Marwat, a town in Pakistan’s northwestern province.

A suicide bomber reportedly rammed an explosive-laden vehicle into the rear wall of the police station Monday morning. There were more than 45 police officials present inside the police station at the time of the blast.

The police station, situated in a busy shopping area of the town in the North West Frontier Province, has been severely damaged. All those killed in the blast were civilians passing by the area.

A school and several government buildings adjacent to the police station have also been damaged.

Police confirmed death of eight people in the blast and said that several others were injured. “We’ll only be able to assess the damage completely once the debris are removed,” a police official said.

Security forces have cordoned off the area and the injured were being shifted to the city hospital nearby, whose northern wing has also been damaged by the blast.

In the fresh spate of terrorist activities in Pakistan, more than 110 people were killed in two separate suicide blasts last week targeting Shia community processions in Lahore and Quetta.

A suicide blast targeting a village adjacent to Lakki Marwat earlier this year had killed at least 100 people.

(Awais Saleem can be contacted at ians.pakistan@gmail.com)