PESHAWAR/DAGGAR: A child was killed and six persons were injured when a powerful bomb went off in Khalid Bin Waleed Town in the limits of Yakatoot police station in Peshawar on Monday evening.

An official told Dawn that suspected militants had planted an explosive device beneath a power transformer that went off with a big bang. “It was a big blast which was heard in most of the city areas,” he said.

The official said that seven people including two children were injured in the blast. The injured people were identified as Talha, Huzaifa, Wajahat, Ismail, Adil, Haroon and Sajjad Hussain. A rescuer said that after the blast seven injured people were shifted to Lady Reading Hospital where a child among them succumbed to his wounds. He said that other wounded people were in stable condition.

He said that the power transformer was located close to a government-run school and a tubewell. The blast also caused suspension of power supply to the entire Khalid Bin Waleed Town, he added.An eyewitness said that police cordoned off the entire area but the rescuers faced great hardships due to darkness. He said that police also took time to locate the blast site and people faced hardships in shifting of injured to hospital.

Meanwhile, suspected militants blew up the building of a telephone exchange at Milli Khel area on the outskirts of the provincial metropolis small hours of Monday.

An official of Badbher police station told Dawn that the building was blown up by planting four bombs under the foundations of walls and pillars. He said that each of the bomb weighed five kilograms and three of them went off at about 2am.

“Personnel of the bomb disposal unit reached on time and defused one of the bombs,” he said and added that the area was far away from the police station but police reached there soon after the blasts.

“We searched the area to arrest suspected elements but could not nab anyone,” the official said.

In Buner, a policeman was killed in exchange of fire with militants in Elum Ghar area on Monday. Officials said that a police party was on routine patrol when it came under attack. During exchange of fire, a constable identified as Inamur Rehman, a resident of Chinglai village, was killed.

District Police Officer Asif Iqbal told journalists that militants attacked the police party and killed a constable. The attackers escaped after the incident, he added.

The official said that a search operation was launched in the area after the incident.