KALAYA, March 5 Twelve people, two children and four women among them, were killed and 30 others wounded when a suicide bomber attacked a convoy of civilians, escorted by paramilitary soldiers, in Thall town in Hangu district on Friday.

Police and witnesses said the convoy of dozens of vehicles carrying about 800 people was going from Peshawar to Parachinar.

Police officer Mir Chaman said the suicide bomber blew himself up near one of the buses in the convoy on the Thall-Parachinar Road. The buses were carrying pilgrims who had recently returned from Iraq and Iran after visiting religious shrines and were stranded in Peshawar because of closure of the Thall-Parachinar Road.

Police said the explosion destroyed three vehicles and six men, four women and two children were killed. The injured were taken to a military hospital in Thall garrison. Twelve critically wounded people were later shifted to Peshawar.

An official told this correspondent that the Thall-Parachinar Road had been closed and all passengers brought to the garrison.

The local administration imposed a curfew in the town which is adjacent to North Waziristan.

Mohammad Ghaffar, an eyewitness, said he had seen a young man on the road shortly before the blast. Police said that legs of the suspected bomber had been found.

NWFP Governor Owais Ahmed Ghani and ANP's provincial president Senator Afrasiab Khattak condemned the attack and termed it an act of terrorism.

The Thall-Parachinar Road, which had been closed in 2008 because of sectarian clashes and militants' activities in lower Kurram, was partially opened in November last year. The clashes have left over 3,000 people dead.

Another convoy of civilians was attacked near Thall on Feb 24 and three people were killed and four others wounded.