LANDI KOTAL: Twelve tribal policemen and a school student were killed in two bomb explosions during a polio vaccination campaign in Jamrud tehsil of Khyber Agency on Saturday.

According to officials, a Levies team came under attack in the first explosion when they were escorting health workers in Lashorrha area of Chappari, near Ghundi, a suspected hideout of militants.

The administration had already declared the area as sensitive.

An explosive device placed on the roadside was detonated by remote control.

The second explosion took place minutes after a vehicle of a second Khasadar and Levies team reached the place to rescue their colleagues hit by the first blast, Political Tehsildar Ali Sher told Dawn.

A Khasadar line officer, Said Karim of Bara sub-division, assistant line officer Akhtar Munir of Jamrud and 10 Levies sepoys died.

One vehicle was destroyed and another damaged, the official said, adding that most of the bodies were mutilated.

Assistant Political Agent Jahangir Azam Wazir said some limbs were found over 50 metres away from the place where the explosions took place.

He said that nearly 50kg of explosives had been used in each of the two bombs that had been concealed along the road.

Mr Wazir conceded the area was infested with militants.

A school student, Mohammad Raziq, was also killed in the second blast.

Political Agent Shahab Ali Shah said the security forces had cordoned off the place and launched a search operation, arresting 35 people under the collective territorial responsibility clause of the Frontier Crimes Regulations.

The injured were taken to the Jamrud Civil Hospital and Hayatabad Medical Complex in Peshawar.

Till late in the night, no group claimed responsibility for the attacks, considered as the deadliest against the security forces in Jamrud so far.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Shaukatullah Khan also attended the funeral prayers for six personnel at the Jamrud tehsil offices.

Speaking on the occasion, he said the perpetrators of terrorism would be brought to book and awarded exemplary punishment.

“The Taliban should refrain from cowardly acts of secretly attacking innocent health workers and their protectors and they should rather fight face-to-face with the security forces,” he said in his brief remarks.