Police shot and killed a vendor they suspected of being a militant in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's Mardan district on Thursday, police said.

The man, identified as Wolas Khan, had been selling clothes on his bicycle in the area for the past 15 years. He had 12 children.

DSP Shah Mumtaz Khan said the man had failed to stop at a checkpoint outside a courthouse in Mardan.

He said the police first rammed a vehicle into the bicycle when the vendor didn't listen to warning shouts, then shot him as he tried to run away.

The man, around 45 years old, was injured by the firing and later died in a local hospital. No explosives or weapons were found on the deceased, the DSP said.

District Police Officer (DPO) Mian Saeed said the incident happened in a sensitive area where police had installed barriers.

He said the road on which the man was shot had been designated a one-way street.

The DPO said police had shot at the man also because he had a "suspect" appearance — "long hair and a long beard".

“I don't understand why the vendor would keep going (even though) we were giving him loud warnings,” said another officer, Zeb Bakhtiar, who was at the checkpoint.

Pakistani police have been on high alert after a recent string of militant attacks that have killed more than 125 people, the latest of them inside a court building in KP's Charsadda.