Police in Pakistan’s northwest are hunting a suicide bomber believed to be on the loose in a court complex, officials said Tuesday, after at least three people were killed and 19 wounded in an attack.
A second bomber was killed by security forces and a third detonated outside the main gates of the facility, located in the Tangi area of Charsadda district.
“The search for the third bomber is still on,” Suhail Khalid, district police chief, told AFP, adding that a lawyer was among the dead.
Jamaat-ul-Ahrar (JuA), a faction of the Pakistani Taliban, claimed responsibility for the attack, telling AFP it was “ongoing”.
Charsadda senior police official Mohammed Ijaz Khan confirmed three bombers had tried to enter the complex, with one dying after detonating his vest and the other killed by police.
It was not immediately clear how many people were inside, but hundreds of people including lawyers, judges and citizens normally attend such district court complexes every day.
Security forces had been on high alert in Pakistan after a wave of attacks killed more than 100 people last week and sparked fears of a militant resurgence.
Source: AFP
