At least two killed in motorcycle blast in Pakistan’s Peshawar city

AL Jazeera:

At least two people have been killed in a motorcycle blast in Pakistan’s northwestern city of Peshawar, according to police officials.

The blast near the Board Bazaar area of the city also wounded one person who has been admitted to Lady Reading Hospital. He is believed to be in a critical condition.

The motorcycle carried between 4 and 5kg (9 to 11lb) of explosives when it detonated in the city, said Kashif Abbasi, senior superintendent of police operations in Peshawar.

The explosives detonated prematurely, Abbasi added. He did not say what was the intended target.

Geo News TV station aired footage showing a charred motorcycle lying in the middle of the road, with security personnel cordoning off the site.

Counterterrorism officials have arrived at the scene of the blast as an investigation has begun to determine the nature of the explosion. Peshawar police chief Kashif Abbasi said that preliminary investigation suggested that the suspected bomber was also killed in the blast.

Peshawar is the capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, which is a former stronghold of the Pakistani Taliban group, also known as the TTP.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif offered prayers for the victims. “We are fully determined to root out terrorism,” he said, according to a statement from his office.

The blast comes nearly a month after at least 28 people were killed in twin blasts in Balochistan province just ahead of the parliamentary elections. The February 7 attacks were claimed by the ISIL (ISIS) group.

Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan provinces, which border Afghanistan, have seen a rise in armed attacks in the last one year, with many of the attacks claimed by the TTP and the ISIL group.