PESHAWAR, Feb 16: About eight persons including three policemen were injured when a man hurled a hand grenade at them on Bara Road in suburbs of Peshawar on Thursday.

An official said that an unidentified man hurled a hand grenade on policemen when they were sitting at a roadside makeshift restaurant in Batatal area.

“An official Elite Force Inam Khan and his two companions had parked their armoured personnel carrier and were taking lunch at Khalil Hotel when they came under attack,” he added. He said that five other persons, present there, were also inured in the attack.

SSP Tahir Ayub told journalists at the blast site that the terrorist managed to escape towards tribal area after attacking the police party. He said that police were fully alert but they could not check each and every person roaming in the area.

He said that the area was close to tribal region and militants could easily escape there.

The SSP said the police also got information about presence of a would-be suicide bomber and searched the area but could not find him.

An official of the Bomb Disposal Unit told Dawn that about 400 grams of explosives, mixed with ball bearings, were used in the blast.

The official said that terrorists also tried to target members of a peace committee in Mashokhel area of Badhber with a bomb but no one was injured in the blast.

About four kilogram explosives, he said, were used in the blast. “The members of peace committee, riding a motorcar, remained unhurt as the explosives were outdated and terrorists failed to detonate the same properly,” he added.