A bomb planted on a bicycle in the northwestern Pakistani town of Dera Ismail Khan killed 12 people today, including three policemen.
There has been a relative lull in militant violence in recent weeks since government forces stepped up offensives in the Orakzai and Khyber regions of the northwest after largely clearing Pakistani Taliban strongholds in other areas.
Dera Ismail Khan is in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, which used to be known as North West Frontier. It has been targeted before by militants but is not an Islamist stronghold. Police at first said the bomb, which blew up as a police van was passing, was caused by a suicide car-bomber.
"Initially, it looked like a suicide attack but we figured out that the device was on a bicycle, which was apparently parked on the side of the road," a bomb disposal squad officer said.
Twelve bodies and 10 wounded people were brought to the town's main hospital, said a doctor, Qibla Khan. Among the dead were three policemen and two children, he said.
Television footage showed a twisted bicycle and a burned-out auto-rickshaw as policemen collecting evidence at the scene.
"A rickshaw nearby caught fire and a couple with two kids were burned to death. It was horrible," a witness said.