Suicide blast kills 14 in Pakistan

ISLAMABAD - At least 14 people, including five policemen, were killed and more than 50 injured Monday in a suicide blast targeting a police station in Lakki Marwat, a town in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

A suicide bomber reportedly rammed his 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 Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province that was earlier known as North West Frontier Province, has been severely damaged. At least nine civilians, including four girls, were killed in the blast.

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

“We’ll only be able to assess the damage completely once the debris are removed,” a police officer said.

Security forces have cordoned off the area and the injured were being shifted to a hospital whose northern wing was also damaged by the deafening 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 close to Lakki Marwat earlier this year had killed over 100 people.

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