At least seven people have been killed in an explosion in the tribal area of Bajaur agency in northwest of the country.

A Pakistani official says a roadside bomb has killed a senior tribal government administrator and four tribal police near the Afghan border.

Fawad Ali, the assistant administrator, was traveling with police to attend a meeting when their vehicle was struck by the device in the town of Mamoond, some 25km from Khar, the main town of Bajaur on Sunday.

Anwarul Haq, another tribal official, says the device was detonated remotely, and that a search for the perpetrators is under way.

Al Jazeera's Kamal Hyder, reporting from Lahore, said the police believe the attack was aimed to target the official.

"The official along with his five police guards were hit by the explosion that happened along close to the Afghan border," he said.

"Pakistan is blaming some of the Pakistan banned groups based across Afghanistan for carrying out these deadly attacks."

The Pakistani Taliban, also known as Tehreek e-Taliban (TTP), claimed responsibility for the attack.

Armed groups have long operated in the tribal region along the Afghan border, where they attack security forces and those seen as cooperating with the central government.

In June, a twin bombings killed at least 67 people and wounded more than 200 in the northwestern Pakistani city of Parachinar's Toori Bazar.

Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, a Sunni armed group, claimed the bombings in the predominantly Shia Muslim town.

On the same day, a suicide bombing claimed by the Jamaat-ur-Ahrar, a faction of the Pakistani Taliban, killed at least 14 people at a police checkpoint in Quetta in Balochistan province.

At least 10 of the victims were police officers, bringing the overall death toll from three separate attacks across the country to 85. </s> A roadside bomb exploded Sunday killing a local government official and four policemen in Pakistan's restive northwestern tribal area bordering Afghanistan, officials said.

The blast took place in the town of Mamoond, some 25 kilometres (15 miles) from Khar, the main town of Bajaur, one of the country's seven semi-autonomous tribal districts, where the army has been battling Taliban militants.

"A local government officer and four tribal police were killed and another was wounded when an improvised explosive device planted on a roadside exploded when their vehicle passed," senior local government official Anwarul Haq told AFP.

Nobody immediately claimed responsibility for the bomb explosion but in the past Taliban militants have carried out several suicide bombings and other attacks in the district.

Violence in Pakistan has declined in recent years following a series of military offensives against insurgents along the northwestern border.

But militant groups are still able to carry out bloody attacks, particularly in the northwest. </s> MOSCOW (Sputnik) – At least five people, including a tax officer and several security officials, were killed in a roadside bombing in Pakistan’s northwestern agency of Bajaur within the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), local media reported Sunday.

According to the Geo TV broadcaster, the bomb, which was equipped with a remotely controlled detonator, went off in the region of Loi Mamond of Bajaur.

Local security forces cordoned off the blast scene and launched a search operation to identify the terrorists, the news outlet reported. So far, no group has claimed responsibility for the attack.

The Bajaur agency has a 32-mile long border with the Afghan province of Kunar.

FATA, located near the Pakistani-Afghan border, is considered to be one of the most unstable regions in the country, with numerous terrorist groups active in the area. The Pakistani security forces regularly conduct counterterrorism operations in the region. </s> A roadside bomb in northwestern Pakistan Sunday killed a senior government official and at least four of his security guards.

The deadly blast took place in Bajaur, a volatile federally administered tribal district on the Afghan border.

Officials said the administrator of the Mamoond subdistrict, Fawad Ali, was being driven to a border village to attend a traditional assembly of tribal elders when his vehicle struck an improvised explosive device.

There were no immediate claims of responsibility for the violence.

The anti-state Pakistan Taliban and its breakaway factions often take credit for attacks in the border region and elsewhere in Pakistan. The militant violence has killed tens of thousands of Pakistanis over the years.

Bajaur borders the volatile eastern Afghan province of Kunar where fugitive Pakistani militants have taken refugee and extremists loyal to Afghanistan’s branch of Islamic State are also well-entrenched.

Pakistani officials allege militants have taken shelter on the other side of the border after fleeing security operations and they plot terrorist attacks against Pakistan from their Afghan sanctuaries.

Islamabad accuses Kabul’s intelligence agency of backing the terrorist activity. But Afghan authorities reject the charges and in turn blame Pakistan for supporting militant violence on their soil. </s> Khar, Pakistan - A roadside bomb killed a local government official and five policemen on Sunday in Pakistan's restive northwestern tribal area bordering Afghanistan, officials said.

The blast took place in the town of Mamoond, around 25 km from Khar, the main town of Bajaur, one of the country's seven semi-autonomous tribal districts, where the army has been battling Taliban militants.

"A local government officer and five tribal police were killed when an improvised explosive device planted on a roadside exploded when their vehicle passed," senior local government official Anwarul Haq told AFP.

Pakistani militant umbrella group Tehreek-e-Taliban (TTP) claimed responsibility for the explosion. "Our mission is to eliminate the black infidel democratic system in Pakistan and impose Islamic justice system. We will trample every hurdle in the way of our mission," spokesperson Mohammad Khurasani said in a message sent to reporters.

Violence in Pakistan has declined in recent years following a series of military offensives against insurgents along the northwestern border.

But militant groups are still able to carry out bloody attacks, particularly in the northwest. </s> BAJAUR: At least five government officials, including security personnel, were killed in a remote-controlled bomb attack in Bajaur Agency on Sunday.

Officials of the political administration said the bomb exploded on the roadside in Tangi area of Loi Mamond tehsil of the tribal agency.

The deceased include political tehsildar Fawad Ali and security personnel while a Levies official was also injured in the attack, said officials.

Security forces cordoned off the area after the incident and launched a search operation.

A resident of Bajaur and PML-N leader shared a post on Twitter stating that the deceased tehsildar was a gold medal winner from Islamabad's Quaid-e-Azam University.

Bajaur Agency, which borders Afghanistan's Kunar province, has seen intense fighting between militants and security forces in the past. </s> Roadside blast kills two cops in Quetta

QUETTA: A roadside bomb killed two policemen and injured eight other people on Tuesday, police and rescue officials said.

“A bomb planted on Sariab Road went off just as a police van passed by,” Geo News quoted Superintendent Police Abdullah Afridi as saying. It was not immediately clear whether all the injured were policemen, Afridi said.

The injured were moved to Civil Hospital Quetta, where at least one of them is said to be in critical condition.

Rescue officials said two policemen were killed and five others injured in the attack that apparently targeted their van. Two passers by are said to have sustained injuries in the attack. The police suspect that the attack was carried out through a remote-controlled device.

Earlier in the day, at least three policemen were injured when a suicide bomber detonated his explosives while trying to enter Khanpur Imambargah in Shikarpur district of SIindh province as worshipers were offering Eid prayers.

Worshippers overpowered the second would-be suicide bomber as the police were reeling from their injuries inflicted in the first blast. </s> A deadly explosion ripped through a vehicle of the Pakistani armed forces in Quetta city the provincial capital of Balochistan, leaving scores of people dead or wounded.

According to the local officials, the incident took place late on Saturday night after a suicide bomber riding a motorcycle target an army truck.

The officials further added that fifteen people including eight Pakistani soldiers were killed and around forty others were wounded in the attack.

Balochistan Home Minister Sarfaraz Bugti confirmed the death toll in the attack but he said only 32 people were wounded.

No group or individual has so far claimed responsibility behind the attack.

Pakistan’s Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa condemned the attack and called it a move by the enemies of the country to deteriorate the situation as the independence day celebrations are underway.

However, he said “our resolve won’t succumb to any challenge.”

Last night’s attack followed almost 24 hours after an explosion ripped through a bus in Bajaur Agency of Pakistan, leaving at least three people dead and around 25 others wounded.

Follow Khaama Press (KP) | Afghan News Agency on Twitter, become a fan on Facebook. Stay updated via RSS </s> PESHAWAR/KARACHI: Twin blasts tore through a market crowded with Eid shoppers in a mainly Shia town, a suicide bomber blew up his explosives-laden car and militants opened fire on police in separate attacks in Pakistan’s three major cities today, killing 42 people and wounding 121 others.

The suicide bomber blew up his explosives-laden car near Inspector General of Police Ehsan Mehboob’s office in Quetta, the capital of Balochistan province, killing at least 13 people, including seven policemen, and wounding 21 others.

The blast was claimed by both the local affiliate of the Islamic State terror group and by Jamaat-ul-Ahrar (JuA), a splinter group of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan.

Thirteen people, including seven policemen, died in the suicide car bombing, officials said.

Hours later, two back-to-back blasts tore through a market crowded with the people shopping for Eid in the Shia- dominated Parachinar city in the Kurram tribal region, killing at least 25 people, mostly Shias, and injuring 100 others. (AGENCIES)
A roadside bomb kills five people in Bajaur, Pakistan.