Twelve people dead after blast in north-west Pakistan

A bomb explosion in Dera Ismail Khan in the North-West Frontier Province of Pakistan killed at least twelve people today, officials said. Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Iqbal Khan was said to be the target. The bomb, which was planted on a bicycle, killed Khan along with the driver and guard of his convoy.

No group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack. The DSP's car had been badly damaged. Officials stated the bomb was detonated when Khan had been leaving his house situated in the Kutchi Painda Khan region of the town and entering his car. "It was a remote control bomb and was planted in a bicycle," Riaz Khan, a police spokesperson for the province, told the Agence France-Presse news agency.

The local DHQ Hospital is treating the injured. "We have received 12 dead bodies and 10 injured," Nasir Malik Akhtar, who heads the casualty department at Dera Ismail Khan hospital, told the media. "The dead included three policemen, including one officer, and nine civilians," he noted. Hospital authorities added that there were women and children among the dead. A state of emergency has been declared by the hospital.