PESHAWAR: At least eight unidentified people were killed late Friday night when unknown gunmen attacked their vehicles in Peshawar, the capital of troubled Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province bordering Afghanistan, said a police official.

SHO Badaber Police Station, Abidur Rehman told Dawn.com the incident took place near Gulzar Chowk in Peshawar’s Matni area – a buffer zone between provincial capital and lawless tribal region of Dara Adamkhel.

“At least eight people are killed and number of others are inured,” said Rehman. He said vehicles travelling to southern districts including a Karachi-bound Bus on Kohat Road were the apparent target of the attackers.

The dead bodies and injured were being shifted to Leady Reading Hospital in Peshawar.

Police and other law enforcement forces have cordoned off the area and a search operation to arrest the miscreants was underway.

Meanwhile, local residents reportedly came out on the street and exchanged fire with the attackers alongside security forces. The clash lasted for an hour at least.

The motive and the perpetrators of the attack were not immediately known.

Earlier in the day, at least five people were injured when a motorcycle packed with explosives detonated inside the Hashtnagri police station, located in the centre of the city.

More than 40,000 Pakistani people have been killed in attacks by al Qaeda and Taliban-led militants in the last decade.

Washington considers the tribal belt as the main hub of Taliban and al Qaeda militants plotting attacks on the West and in Afghanistan.