The suicide car bomber set off his explosives outside the police station killing 11, including three policemen and a schoolchild.

KOHAT At least 11 people, three policemen among them, were killed and 22 others injured when a suicide bomber rammed his explosive-packed pick-up into a police station in the Cantonment area here on Thursday.

The Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan terrorist organisation claimed responsibility for the attack.

The police station is in a high-security zone where official residences of Kohat region's DIG, district police officer and district coordination officer, PAF officers' mess and flats and a security checkpost are located.

According to officials, the light green double-cabin pick-up driven by a young man slammed into the main gate of the Saddar police station. The van carried about 100kg of explosives.

The powerful blast created a six-foot deep and 10-foot wide crater. Nearly half of the police station's building and a boundary wall of the nearby officers' mess collapsed. Eight vehicles were destroyed and a school building and several houses were damaged.

The place was strewn with parts of victims' bodies and some parts were found even on roofs of nearby houses. The blast was heard in places as far as Darra Adamkhel.

A student who was going to school was among the dead. Hospital sources confirmed to have received 11 bodies. The three slain policemen who died were identified as constables Fayyazul Hassan, Mohammad Noor and Khursheed. The civilian victims are Javed, Tariq, Haji Baseer

Khan, Abdul Wali, Tahir-ur-Rehman and Arshad Ali. Two bodies were mutilated beyond recognition.

The injured, two policemen and a prisoner among them, were taken to the Combined Military Hospital.

District police officer Dilawar Khan Bangash said that the terrorists chose the police station instead of other nearby sensitive locations for the attack in order to cause maximum casualty.

He said police had found parts and legs and arms of suicide bomber. The engine of the pick-up and other parts of the vehicle used in the attack had been sent for investigation.

Taliban spokesman Usman Ali told this correspondent on phone that the attack was revenge for the killing of their two activists.

He warned that Taliban planned to attack three sensitive installations in Kohat.