By NNN-PTI
Islamabad : At least 18 people, including two policemen and a soldier, were killed and several others injured Tuesday when a suicide bomber blew himself up in a mini-bus as police tried to search him for explosives in a northwest Pakistani town.
The incident occurred in Dera Ismail Khan in North West Frontier Province when security personnel tried to search the bomber who was acting suspiciously, area Superintendent of Police Khaled Mohammed told TV channels.
He said the bomber had alighted from a bus, which came to the town from Tank – a city in the troubled South Waziristan tribal agency near Afghan border, and ran towards another passenger coach to escape the approaching security personnel who wanted to search him.
Police also entered the mini-bus following which the bomber exploded, causing casualties among security personnel and passengers, he said.
Area police chief Haji Habib-ur-Rehman said two police men and a paramilitary soldier were among the 18 people killed in the blast while 15 others injured.
He said the bomber, a teenager, wanted to carry out a suicide attack somewhere else.