PESHAWAR: At least nine people, including two bomb disposal officers, were killed Monday in two separate explosions in restive northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

Station House Officer (SHO) Doaba police station Rahim Khan said a suicide bomber rammed his motorcycle into the vehicle of a tribal elder in KP’s Hangu district, killing seven people.

Ten other people were also wounded in the blast near a bus stand in Hangu's Doaba tehsil.

The explosion also destroyed seven other vehicles.

The injured and the dead were shifted to a local hospital as law enforcement agencies cordoned off the area and launched their investigation.

Sources said local tribal elder Malik Habibullah Khan was the intended target of the blast.

News agency AFP quoted local police chief Sajjad Khan as saying that Malik Habibullah was not in the car when the bomb exploded.

No militant group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack.

Meanwhile, at least two bomb disposal officers were killed while attempting to defuse a bomb in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Swabi district.

District Police Officer Dr Mian Muhammad Saeed said that six bombs were planted to target a government school in Jamalabad area of Swabi.

The bomb disposal unit officials were defusing the road-side bombs when one of the devices exploded, killing both officers on the spot.

Opinion

Editorial

What now?
20 Sep, 2024

What now?

Govt's actions could turn the reserved seats verdict into a major clash between institutions. It is a risky and unfortunate escalation.
IHK election farce
20 Sep, 2024

IHK election farce

WHILE India will be keen to trumpet the holding of elections in held Kashmir as a return to ‘normalcy’, things...
Donating organs
20 Sep, 2024

Donating organs

CERTAIN philanthropic practices require a more scientific temperament than ours to flourish. Deceased organ donation...
Lingering concerns
19 Sep, 2024

Lingering concerns

Embarrassed after failing to muster numbers during the high-stakes drama that played out all weekend, the govt will need time to regroup.
Pager explosions
Updated 19 Sep, 2024

Pager explosions

This dangerous brinkmanship is likely to drag the region — and the global economy — into a vortex of violence and instability.
Losing to China
19 Sep, 2024

Losing to China

AT a time when they should have stepped up, a sense of complacency seemed to have descended on the Pakistan hockey...