A suicide bomber drove an explosives-packed car into a police station today as the Taliban intensified attacks against Pakistan's security forces after the killing of al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.
At least five policemen and a soldier were killed in the attack in the northwestern city of Peshawar. The Pakistani Taliban said they were responsible.
The police station, in a military neighbourhood, houses an office of the Criminal Investigation Department, which is responsible for investigating Islamist militants.here is also a training facility for special forces and officers' residences nearby.
Senior provincial minister Bashir Bilour said up to 300kg of explosives were used in the bomb that police said wounded 22 people.
Residents said the explosion rattled windows throughout the city. By mid-day, volunteers and rescue workers were removing rubble with spades while bulldozers removed broken slabs of concrete.
Senior police officer Ejaz Khan said the bomber rammed his car into the station's gate, on the main road leading to Afghanistan through the Khyber Pass.
Another police officer said about 20 policemen were in the building when the attack happened, and that rubble was still being searched.
The Taliban militants, allied with al-Qaeda, have vowed to avenge bin Laden's killing by US forces on May 2nd.
"We will continue attacks on security forces until an Islamic system is implemented in Pakistan, because the Pakistani system is un-Islamic," Ehsanhullah Ehsan, a spokesman for the Pakistan Taliban, told Reuters, adding the attack was also in revenge for bin Laden's death.
The blast came two days after a brazen Taliban raid on a heavily guarded naval base in the southern city of Karachi that killed 10 military personnel and destroyed two aircraft.
The police station is about 1km from the US consulate and in the same area where Taliban militants detonated a car bomb last week targeting a consular convoy.
One man was killed and about a dozen people were wounded, including two US nationals, in that attack.
Reuters