PESHAWAR, Nov 17: A suicide bomber killed himself and wounded two policemen when he targeted a police van here on Friday. “It was a suicide bombing,” said a senior police official. “This is alarming,” he added.

The bomber, identified as Nadeem Khan, blew himself up near the police patrol van parked beside a temporary police post at the Bara intersection on the Ring Road at around 7:15am.

Head constable Mohammad Ishaq and Constable Aqeel Afridi suffered minor injuries.

Police said the bomber was from the Pishtakhara village in the outskirts of Peshawar Cantonment. He was identified by the national identity card he was carrying.

Two teams have been constituted to carry out separate investigation.

The police are also interrogating the imam of a mosque in Pishtakhara where 20-year-old Nadeem was a frequent visitor.

Investigators have taken Nadeem's cellphone in custody.

Nadeem’s fathert Zameer Khan said he had disappeared a day earlier. He denied his son had links with militants but said that he had developed a liking for people who had fought in Afghanistan and wanted to participate in jihad.

"He had a few friends who would come to see him but I don't know who they were,” said Mr Khan, who is a rickshaw driver.

He said Nadeem had recently become temperamental and would often pick a quarrel with his siblings and parents. But neighbours and Nadeem’s co-workers said he had been seen lost in thoughts most of the time in recent days.

Those who knew Nadeem said they had no idea how a boy who worked as a motor mechanic and electrician became a suicide bomber.

One of Nadeem's five brothers said he had told them that he would be spending the night with his friends. “We only came to know this morning that he has blown himself up,” his brother said.