7 killed in suicide attack in Pakistan

A suicide bomber attacked police here Sunday as they rushed to treat civilians injured by a smaller explosion, killing seven people and wounding at least 25, said police official Sanaullah Khan.

Of the seven slain, five were police officials and two were civilians, Khan said, and 16 police were among the wounded.

Amanullah Khan, a wounded police official, said he and his colleagues were attending to four civilians injured by the first explosion when the bomber struck.

“When I stood up, there was blood everywhere,” he said. “My colleagues were crying with pain.”

Local television in the town near the Afghan border showed smoldering bicycles, broken furniture and torn police uniforms, splattered with blood, littering the ground in front of shops destroyed in the attack. The footage also showed a police van damaged by the blast.

“This is the work of anti-state and anti-Islamic forces,” said local lawmaker Khalifa Abdul Qayoum. “We are not afraid of them. We will fight them.”

After the attack, gunmen opened fire on an ambulance carrying one of the dead to his village, wounding three people, said police official Jehangir Khattak.

Many Al Qaeda and Taliban militants fled to northwest Pakistan after the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001. The militants have regrouped and have been launching attacks against Western forces across the border in Afghanistan and against security forces and civilians inside Pakistan.