Suicide blast kills at least nine in northwest Pakistan: Officials

PESHAWAR - Agence France-Presse

Pakistani security officials examine the site of a suicide bomb attack on the outskirts of Peshawar on January 19, 2016. AFP photo

At least nine people were killed and 35 injured Jan. 19 in a suicide bomb attack on a market during morning rush hour on the outskirts of Pakistan's northwestern city of Peshawar, officials said.

The bomb exploded alongside a road jammed with traffic in the Wazir Dhand district just outside city limits.

The highway links the Khyber tribal district and the city.
 
"The number of deaths from the attack has increased to nine," Ismatullah, a Khyber tribal district administration official, told AFP.    

"There are six dead bodies and 35 injured in Hayatabad Medical Complex in Peshawar while three more dead bodies have been received in Jamrud hospital," he said.
 
Another local official confirmed the three dead at Jamrud hospital.
 
Toheed Zulfiqar, a public relations officer at the Hayatabad complex, said the dead included a seven-year-old and six of the injured were in serious condition.
 
Ismatullah said the suicide attack apparently targeted a tribal police official and his colleagues sitting in the market at the roadside.    

The blast also damaged three shops, as well as cars and motorcycles on the road, he said.
 
Khyber is one of Pakistan's seven tribal districts situated next to Peshawar and bordering Afghanistan.    

The mountainous forest regions have for years been home to some of the world's most notorious militants linked to Al-Qaeda or the Taliban.
 
Islamabad launched a military offensive in 2014 that has reportedly killed thousands of militants and pushed the rest over the border to Afghanistan, resulting in improved security inside Pakistan.    

However, insurgents associated with Pakistan's homegrown Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan occasionally carry out attacks from bases in Afghanistan.