BANNU, Oct 1: Sixteen people, four of them policemen, were killed and 32 others injured when a man wearing burqa set off explosives wrapped around his body at a police checkpoint near the Dawa Bridge here on Monday.

Three women waiting at a nearby bus stop were among the dead, officials and witnesses said.

Officials said police had blocked the road and other entry points to Bannu after receiving information that a man was about to enter the city to carry out a suicide attack. Police, they said, had received the information about 20 minutes before the explosion.

Witnesses said a motorcycle rickshaw carrying the burqa-clad passenger to the city adjacent to North Waziristan Agency was stopped at the checkpoint. As policemen started searching the tri-wheeler, the big explosion took place and human limbs flew in the air.

Some injured men told Dawn they saw the policemen checking the rickshaw moments before it blew up. When they regained consciousness they were in hospital.

Sources said the bomber had travelled to the town to target the Khalifa Gul Nawaz Memorial Hospital. But he changed his mind and was returning to the Bannu city when police intercepted him.

Police had found legs and other parts of the bomber’s body at the site, officials said.

Hospital sources confirmed the death of 16 people in the blast. Included among them are constables Zakeran, Adam Khan, Gul Aslam and Inayatullah, and civilians Zar Nawaz, Gul Sher, Riaz, Atif and Said Keran. Other bodies could not be identified because they were badly burnt and mutilated. Doctors said seven of the injured were in critical condition. Three of them have been sent to Peshawar.