PESHAWAR: A road-side planted bomb targetted a police van in Peshawar's Pishtakhara locality on Friday killing a policeman and injuring another two, DawnNews reported.

The police mobile van was partially destroyed in the explosion.

Police and rescue teams reached the blast site while security forces cordoned off the area as a search operation went underway.

The attack comes a day after the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government promised not to interfere in the police’s operation against terrorists in the province.

“We’ve given police a freehand to target terrorists in the province and will ensure that there is no political interference in it for the best possible results,” Sheraz Paracha, spokesman for the provincial chief minister, told reporters at Peshawar Press Club.

Peshawar, the capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, lies on the edge of Pakistan's tribal areas, labelled by Washington as the main sanctuary for Al Qaeda and Taliban militants in the country.

The city has seen frequent attacks by militants in the past few years, with targets ranging from civilians to policemen and other law enforcement personnel.

In another incident, unknown gunmen shot a policeman to death in Charsadda's Sar Dheri area.

A female student who was passing by was also injured in the incident who was shifted to Lady reading Hospital for medical treatment.