Pakistan-Blast
A powerful car bomb blast killed a police officer and three other people in northwest Pakistan on Friday, police said.

The explosive-laden car was parked near a police station in Mardan, a major city 60 kilometers northwest of Peshawar, the capital of North West Frontier Province, district police officer Tahir Khan said.

The blast at 5:50 a.m. also injured 28 people including 15 police men.

The injured were admitted to two hospital in Mardan and several critical injured were shifted to Peshawar.

No group claimed responsibility for the blast but police blamed suspected militants for such attacks.

Suspected militants regularly target security forces in the country, particularly in the tribal regions and the northwest.

"I heard a huge explosion shortly after I offered morning prayers," Haji Abdul Ghaffar, a local resident told IRNA over phone.

The blast destroyed upto 25 shops adjacent to the police station, according to eyewitnesses.

The building of the city police station was also badly damaged.

Station House Officer of the police station Farukh Sair was killed and three civilians, including owner of a small restaurant were among those died in the blast.

Ambulances rushed to the blast site to shift injured to hospitals.

The people joined the police to pull bodies and injured out of the rubbles.

The blast occurred at a time when the government is holding talks with the militants.

District Mardan mayor Himayat Mayar described the blast as a terrorist act to derail the peace process between the government and the militants.

2020**235**1420

---> Pakistan-Blast