PESHAWAR, Jan 26: Suspected militants on Saturday made an unsuccessful attempt to target an army convoy with an improvised explosive device (IED) on the Peshawar-Kohat highway, near the Badabher police station.

Witnesses said that the IED exploded with a loud noise when the convoy reached in front of Gohar hotel, a short distance from Badabher police station in the outskirts of provincial capital.

The convoy, reportedly consisting of five vehicles, was heading towards the troubled Darra Adamkhel area where the army has already been struggling to control growing militancy.

A police official said a remote control device had been planted on the road. The blast, he added, smashed the windscreens of three vehicles.

“Soon after the explosion a man ran towards a populated area with nothing in his hands, but due to the presence of many people the forces did not target him,” the witnesses added.

They said the highway had been closed and the movement of pedestrians restricted for some time.

SSP Operations Tahir Khan told Dawn that the IED was of a low intensity.

Meanwhile, during the past few months, the militants in the same area have been sending threatening letters to the girls’ schools, video centres and barber shops. Several music centres, schools and video shops were attacked in the jurisdiction of Badabher police station. No arrest has been made in this regard yet.