PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) – A suicide car bomber blew himself up near a convoy of security forces in northwestern Pakistan on Tuesday, killing five people and wounding 29 others, police said.
In another development, the military said it carried out airstrikes against militant hideouts near the Afghan border, killing 19 insurgents.
The bombing in Peshawar took place as the deputy commander of the paramilitary Frontier Corps, Brig. Khalid Javed, was driving along a busy road in a convoy, the city’s police chief Ijaz Ahmed said.
He said Javed escaped unharmed, but one of the soldiers and four bystanders were killed.
“This suicide car bombing in Peshawar seems to be a reaction to the ongoing military operation against Pakistani Taliban and foreign militants in North Waziristan,” he told The Associated Press.
