10 killed, 8 injured in Pakistan blast

Shabqadar: At least ten people were killed and eight others injured when a bomb planted in a pick-up truck exploded in a town near Peshawar and bordering the lawless tribal belt on Monday.

The device exploded in a vehicle at a petrol pump in Shabqadar, a town 70 km from the North West Frontier Province capital of Peshawar. The town is also located near the boundary with the Mohmand tribal region.

Women and children were among the dead and injured, television news channels reported. The injured, several of them in a critical condition, were taken to hospitals in Peshawar.

Security forces cordoned off the area and started a search soon after the blast.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack, which occurred hours after two security personnel were killed and three more injured when a suicide bomber detonated his explosives in a bid to escape being arrested in the restive Swat valley.

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The attacker blew himself up shortly after he was stopped at a check post in Mingora, the main city in Swat, on Sunday night. This was the second suicide attack in Swat since Saturday, when six people, including five soldiers, were killed when a bomber rammed his explosive-laden vehicle into a check post.