Pakistani police say a suicide bomber in a rickshaw has killed three
people in Peshawar, a day after another suicide bomber killed 13 people
in a crowded market outside the northwestern city.
Police say the suicide bomber detonated his explosives Monday at a
checkpoint on a frequently traveled road that runs around Peshawar.
Officials say a constable was among the dead. The blast wounded five
other people.
The earlier bombing on Sunday killed a local mayor, Abdul Malik. He was
once a Taliban supporter, but switched sides and mobilized villagers to
form a tribal militia against militants. The Taliban claimed
responsibility for the attack.
In other violence, officials said on Monday a roadside bomb killed two paramilitary troops in the Bajur tribal region.
The Pakistani army said Sunday it killed 20 insurgents during the
latest stage of its South Waziristan offensive against the Taliban.
Since the army launched the anti-Taliban campaign in South Waziristan
on October 17, it says military forces have killed more than 480
militants. At least 44 soldiers also are said to have died in the
operation.
The reports of battlefield losses cannot be independently verified
because journalists and rights groups are barred from the tribal areas
near the border with Afghanistan.
U.N. officials say around 200,000 people have fled South Waziristan, but many others remain trapped in the conflict zone.