Wave of attacks across Pak

The suicide bomber struck two police vans patrolling the Ring Road on the outskirts of Peshawar shortly after unidentified attackers lobbed a grenade at a police picket in the same area.

The police had launched a search operation after the grenade attack. The suicide bomber approached the police vans and blew himself up.

One person was killed and 30 injured when a bomb went off in a train in Pakistan’s Balochistan province on Thursday. Railway officials said the bomb exploded in an economy-class coach of the Quetta-bound Bolan Mail train.

The explosion occurred after the train crossed Dozan railway station in Quetta railway division,they said. The train was on its way from Karachi to Quetta.

The outlawed Baloch Republican Army claimed responsibility for the bombing of the train.

In another attack in Khuzdar district of Balochistan,two people including a Frontier Constabulary soldier,were killed and six security personnel wounded when a remote-controlled bomb planted on a motorcycle was set off,the APP reported.

In NWFP,a provincial minister was injured and three of his guards were killed when unidentified gunmen ambushed the minister’s car.

Mian Nisqar Gul,the Minister for Prisons in NWFP,was hit by three bullets when the gunmen opened fire at his car in Darra Adam Khel area,senior provincial minister basher Ahmed Bilour said.

No group claimed responsibility for the attack but Bilour blamed militants for the ambush.

Meanwhile in Dera Ismail Khan,at least 20 people were injured when an unidentified attacker lobbed a grenade in a market on Thursday.

The attacker,who was on a motorcycle,entered Topawala Bazar and threw a grenade at people standing near a shop at around noon. A seven-year-old girl was among the injured.

Pakistan unleashed helicopter gunships and artillery to kill scores of Taliban fighters,officials said on Thursday,after opening a second front against militants near their stronghold in the Waziristan tribal region.

A military statement said on Thursday that during the last 24 hours 66 militants had been killed in fighting mostly in Bannu and South Waziristan,but also Swat.