Seven killed as blast hits passenger coach in Peshawar

Dunya News

The bomb was planted beneath a passenger seat, police said.

PESHAWAR (Web Desk / AFP) - At least seven people were killed and four others injured when a blast took place inside a passenger coach in Peshawar on Thursday.

The bomb was planted beneath a passenger seat and exploded in the outskirts of Peshawar, the region s main city, while the bus was en route to the town of Hangu.

"At least seven people have been killed and six wounded, the bomb was planted under a seat," senior police official Najeeb Ur Rehman told AFP.

The motive of the attack was yet not clear but police said they suspected a sectarian motive.

Syed Jameel Shah, a spokesman for Peshawar s main Lady Reading Hospital, confirmed the death toll.

Peshawar is the gateway to the seven semi-autonomous tribal regions where the military has been battling militants for more than a decade.

The army launched a major operation in June to destroy bases of the Taliban and other militants in the North Waziristan tribal area.

Army says it has killed more than a thousand militants and lost 86 soldiers since the start of the ongoing operation Zarb-e-Azb.