Five killed in Pakistan suicide bombing

Five people were killed on Monday when a suicide bomber blew himself up near the Sessions Court in this Pakistani city, police said.

Senior Superintendent of Police Karim Khan said that over 20 people wee also injured in the attack.

The wounded, including two policemen and three lawyers, were taken to the Lady Reading Hospital.

The suicide bomber alighted from a rickshaw and tried to make his way towards the court. When he was stopped by security personnel, he detonated himself, the police said.

Dawn News quoted witnesses as saying that the bomber was trying to go to the provincial assembly hostel located near the Sessions Court.

"According to the initial estimation, the bomber was carrying 7 to 8 kilograms of explosives," DPA quoted a police officer as saying.

Peshawar, capital of North West Frontier Province, has witnessed a series of terror attacks since early October that have claimed over 240 lives.

The city is the gateway to the mountainous tribal region where Pakistan's army is battling the Taliban, which has vowed retaliation and stepped up terror strikes across the country, including the capital Islamabad.

The city witnessed this year's worst terror attack October 28 when a massive explosion in a crowded market killed 117 people and injured over 200.