Three killed, 22 hurt in Bajaur blast

A roadside bomb apparently targeting anti-Taliban elders killed three people and injured 22 others on Thursday in Pakistan's northwest tribal belt bordering Afghanistan, officials said.

The explosion hit their bus in Salarzai district in the tribal region of Bajaur, a day after a similar bomb planted in the road injured a provincial parliamentarian in the northwest capital Peshawar.

“It was an improvised explosive device which exploded as the bus headed to the region's main town of Khar,” local government official Mazhar Ali said.

“One woman was killed while 22 other passengers were wounded.”

Senior administration official Abdul Kabir later said that “two others succumbed to their injuries in the hospital.”

The vehicle was carrying some tribal elders who had formed a militia to fight militants in the region. A number of local leaders have been killed in similar attacks in Bajaur in recent months.