Some leads are there but too early to say which group is behind blast: PM.

Manmohan Singh taking to reporters on board Air India One. The PM said there are some leads to terror attack outside Delhi HC but "it is too early to say which group is behind the incident."

ON BOARD AIR INDIA ONE: Prime MinisterManmohan Singh said there are some leads to the terror attack outside Delhi high court but "it is too early to say which group is behind the incident. 

"We have some leads but it is too early to say which group is behind it", Singh told mediapersons accompanying him on his return from Dhaka to New Delhi. 

Replying to a question about a sense of insecurity among the people since the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, he said the government had put in place several mechanisms and "innovative measures" but "there are obviously unresolved problems and weaknesses in our system and the terrorists are taking advantage of that". 

"We must work hard to plug those weaknesses", he added. The Prime Minister said he was confident that this is a war (on terror) that we will and must win." 

He asked political parties to end mutual bickerings and mutual recriminations and work together to combat the problem of terrorism. 

"I talked about cooperation with all political parties. Instead of wasting time on mutual bickerings and mutual recrimination, I would ask all political parties, all shades of intelligent public opinion in the country to pool their knowledge wisdom and experience how we can tackle this (menace of terrorism)", he said.

Kan steps down as Japan's premier

Fri Aug 26, 2011 7:51AM GMT

Naoto Kan announces his resignation as president of the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), effectively ending his tenure as Japanese leader on August 26, 2011.

Japan Prime Minister Naoto Kan has stepped down amid plunging approval ratings over his government's handling of the nuclear crisis that followed the March 11 quake and tsunami.

"I resign as the (party) president effective today," Kan told senior party officials, quoted by AFP on Friday.

The expected announcement was made after the parliament passed into law two key bills. Kan had set the passage of these bills as conditions for his departure.

The first bill was on promoting the use of renewable energy and the other on issuing deficit-covering bonds.

Kan, in office for only 15 months, has been criticized for his handling of the nuclear crisis which erupted after the March 11 twin disasters.

The outgoing premier's approval ratings had fallen in recent months due to what critics have described as his little grasp of foreign, domestic and economic affairs. Recent polls show that his public support has plummeted to below 20 percent.

"Under the severe circumstances, I feel I've done everything that I had to do. Now I would like to see you choose someone respectable as a new prime minister," Kan said.

The Democratic Party will vote on August 29 for a new leader who is set to become the Asian country's sixth prime minister since 2006.

The hopefuls include former Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara and the present Finance Minister Yoshihiko Noda.

Noda said on Friday he is ready to take the lead in national politics.

MA/GHN/MGH

One more charged with murder of Pak trio

Updated at: 0745 PST,  Monday, August 15, 2011  LONDON: Another accused has been charged with the murder of three Pakistani origin Britons, Geo News reported. Twenty-three years old Adam King, hailing from King's Norton would be presented before Birmingham court tomorrow. Adam is the third accused charged with the murder of three Pakistani men in UK riots. Earlier, Joshua Donald, 26 and a 17-year-old male from Winson Green were charged Saturday with three counts of murder. The police cannot name those aged under 18 because of legal formalities. Haroon Jahan, Shazad Ali and his brother Abdul Musavir were killed in the inner-city neighbourhood of Winson Green in Birmingham, west central England.

Breach in LBOD widens, more than 100 villages flooded

Updated at: 0713 PST,  Monday, August 15, 2011  BADIN: The damage caused by breaches in canals and saline nullahs that have flooded a vast area, continues in district Badin, Geo News reported. According to reports, due to overflowing and reverse flow in the Left Bank Outfall Drain (LBOD) there is fear of more breaches and more flooding. The breach developed in the biggest saline nullah of Asia, LBOD, further widened to 200 feet and have inundated more than 100 villages. Flood water has inundated grid station in Pangrio as well. The authorities concerned are yet to plug breaches that have flooded a vast area and washed away standing crops on hundreds of thousands of acres of land. A large number of people are still marooned in the far-flung coastal villages of Badin district, with no road link to safer areas restored even after the days of heavy monsoon pour that played havoc with the area. So far thousands of people are rescued and shifted to relief camps by Pak army and Navy personnel. The camps set up by district administration lack basic facilities including food.

Two US-led troops killed in Afghan war

Sun Aug 14, 2011 1:35PM GMT

At least two US-led foreign soldiers have been killed in separate attacks in Afghanistan as foreign forces continue to experience some of their deadliest days in the war-torn country

French military officials said one French soldier was shot dead in Afghanistan's eastern Kapisa Province.

Meanwhile, Britain's ministry of Defense said a bomb attack killed one British soldier in southern Helmand Province in Afghanistan.

According to the website, icasualties.com, nearly 400 foreign soldiers, mostly Americans, have been killed in Afghanistan so far this year.

In separate attacks, multiple bomb blasts and a gun-battle left at least 22 people dead in central Afghanistan.

The attacks targeted the governor's compound in Parwan Province.

Officials say most of the dead are civilians. Over 30 other people were injured.

The Taliban have claimed responsibility for the attack in Parwan.

Violence across Afghanistan is at its highest level since the US-led war began in the war-torn country in 2001.

The security situation remains fragile in Afghanistan despite the presence of about 150,000 US-led foreign forces.

Afghan civilians are bearing the brunt of the escalation in their country.

The US-led war in Afghanistan, with civilian and military casualties at record highs, has become the longest war in the US history.

SS/JR/HJL

British soldier killed in Afghanistan

Sun Aug 14, 2011 10:9AM

A bomb attack has killed a US-led foreign soldier in southern Afghanistan as the foreign death toll there in 2011 nears 400.

The British soldier was killed by an improvised explosive device on Friday, the defense ministry said in a statement on Sunday, AFP reported.

The trooper from 1st Battalion The Rifles died while on a patrol in the Shaparak area of the Nahr-e Saraj District of Helmand province, the statement said.

According to the independent website iCasualties.org, at least 392 US-led soldiers have died in Afghanistan so far this year.

The security situation remains fragile in Afghanistan despite the presence of about 150,000 US-led foreign forces.

The increasing number of troop casualties in Afghanistan has caused widespread anger in the US and other NATO member states, undermining public support for the Afghan war.

MSH/MGH

Militants attack Afghan governor house

Sun Aug 14, 2011 9:2AM

At least five blasts have rocked Parwan province in northern Afghanistan as militants have stormed the house of the provincial governor, leaving 19 killed and 37 wounded, authorities say.

The incident occurred on Sunday when at least five armed men attacked Parwan provincial governor's office in the provincial capital Charikar city, the governor told local television from inside the compound under attack, AFP reported.

"I'm inside," Abdul Basir Salangi told Tolo News, referring to a compound that houses his office and other administration offices in Parwan province, about 50 kilometers (30 miles) north of Kabul.

"So far there have been five blasts," he said.

Interior ministry spokesman Siddiq Siddiqi reported that 14 civilians and five police were killed and 37 others, mostly civilians, injured.

The ministry said that gun battle is continuing between the attackers and the security forces.

MSH/MGH

8 abducted Afghan security agents killed

Sun Aug 14, 2011 4:51AM GMT

Members of the Afghan national police (file photo)

Taliban militants have killed eight Afghan security officials who were kidnapped a day earlier in one of the most dangerous areas in central Afghanistan.

The five policemen and three National Directorate of Security (NDS) agents were abducted in Afghanistan's Maidan Wardak Province on Thursday, Reuters reported.

Shahidullah Shahid, a spokesman for the Wardak provincial governor, said the Afghan police and NDS officers were travelling along a highway between the province of Bamiyan and Maydan Shah area in Wardak Province when they were kidnapped by unidentified gunmen.

“We started a rescue operation in the area but the enemies of peace in Afghanistan had already killed our forces,” Shahid said.

According to the spokesperson the eight security officials had been killed on Friday night.

He further explained that three people have been arrested on suspicion of involvement in the abduction and are being interrogated by the Afghan police.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said his fighters had dumped the eight bodies in the Jalriz district of Wardak Province.

“We have no casualties. The people they (police) claim to have arrested might be local people or villagers,” he added.

MP/MGH/HRF

Swedish soldier injured in Afghanistan

Sun Aug 14, 2011 2:37AM GMT

A Swedish soldier in Afghanistan (file photo)

A serviceman with the US-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) has sustained injuries after he came under fire by militants in northern Afghanistan.

A Swedish soldier was on a routine mission together with Afghan security forces on Saturday morning when they were fired upon north of the village Chimtal, which is located about 425 kilometers (264 miles) northwest of Kabul, the Swedish army said in a statement, the Stockholm News reported.

The statement added that the Swedish soldier was wounded in the leg and was transferred to a German field hospital in Mazar-i-Sharif. His condition is not life-threatening, but he will be taken to Sweden for further treatment.

Five Swedish soldiers have been killed since the US-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001. Sweden currently has 500 troops stationed in the Central Asian country, according to the Swedish Armed Forces' website.

A total of to 392 foreign troops have lost their lives in Afghanistan so far this year.

Last year, nonetheless, remains the deadliest year for foreign military casualties with a death toll of 711. The number eclipsed the previous record of 521, set in 2009.

Hundreds of civilians have also been killed in US-led airstrikes and ground operations in various parts of Afghanistan over the past few months, with Afghans becoming increasingly outraged over the seemingly endless number of deadly assaults.

The rising death toll for Afghan civilians as a result of NATO and US military operations has increased the tension between Afghan President Hamid Karzai and his Western allies.

MP/HGL

Ex-Pakistani soldier sentenced to death

Sat Aug 13, 2011 4:43PM GMT

Soldiers are taking positions outside the Pakistan army headquarters after it was attacked by armed men. (file photo)

A Pakistani military court has sentenced a retired soldier to death for his role in a 2009 militant attack on the army headquarters in Rawalpindi.

Six others, five of them civilians, were given various sentences, including life, after the court martial that ended on August 11th.

"One former soldier, Aqeel, alias Dr Usman was awarded the death sentence while one of his accomplices, also an ex-soldier and three civilians were sentenced to life," AFP quoted a military official as saying.

The civilians were convicted for helping the attackers.

In October 2009, a small group of militants wearing suicide vests attacked the Pakistani army's General Headquarters in Rawalpindi, taking 42 people hostage, including several officers.

By the end of the day-long siege, nine gunmen, 11 soldiers and three hostages were dead.

Earlier in May, a similar raid on a naval air base killed 10 security officials in the southern city of Karachi.

Three senior Navy officers are facing court martial regarding the attack.

SS/JR

Roadside bomb kills five Afghan civilians

Sat Aug 13, 2011 2:7PM GMT

A scene of bomb blast in an area of Afghanistan (file photo)

A powerful bomb blast has killed at least five civilians in Afghanistan's troubled southern Helmand Province, local Afghan authorities say.

Provincial officials say roadside bomb went off in Nahri Sarraj district as a minibus was passing by.

"At around 10:00 am this morning, a minivan struck a roadside bomb killing three women and two men who were members of one family,” AFP quoted provincial Spokesman Daud Ahmadi as saying

A similar incident in the same district left some 18 civilians dead in late July.

According to a UN report close to 1,500 Afghan civilians have been killed since the start of 2011, up by 15-percent compared to last year's corresponding period.

A great number of Afghan civilians have lost their lives in Taliban bomb explosions or NATO's air and ground attacks since the US-led invasion of their country in 2001.

The US-led war in Afghanistan, with civilian and military casualties at record highs, has become the longest war in the US history.

SS/JR

Police lockdown in London to prevent new riots

Updated at: 0647 PST,  Saturday, August 13, 2011  LONDON: Police in London flooded the streets on Friday in a move to prevent a repeat of England's worst riots in decades, which left city neighbourhoods smouldering and five people dead. The number of officers in the British capital was more than doubled to 16,000 earlier this week, and Home Secretary Theresa May said the extra police would stay in place until further notice amid concerns violence could flare up this weekend. Britain has had two quiet days following four nights of rioting and looting, which led to 1,500 arrests across the country, but politicians and police were taking no chances. Speaking on a visit to a Sony-owned distribution centre in north London which was torched during the riots, May said: "We will be sustaining the numbers for a period of time. "We have had some quieter nights but we are not complacent about that." Police meanwhile said a 68-year-old man died in hospital late Thursday from injuries sustained confronting looters in west London, becoming the fifth person killed in the violence. Police have arrested a 22-year-old man on suspicion of the murder of Richard Mannington Bowes who was set upon in the affluent London suburb of Ealing Monday as he tried to put out a fire started by a gang of youths. The other victims of the unrest were three men in Birmingham who were run over as they defended local businesses, and a man in Croydon, south London, who was shot. The attack on Mannington Bowes "was a brutal incident that resulted in the senseless killing of an innocent man," said Detective Chief Inspector John McFarlane of London's Metropolitan Police. Inquests were due to open Friday into the deaths in Birmingham, England's second city, which saw three young men of South Asian origin mown down by a car as they stood guard against looters outside a petrol station. As fears of new violence remained high, a row escalated between police and politicians as both sides sought to deflect blame for the crisis. The police have been criticised for their reluctance to crack down hard on the first riot in the north London district of Tottenham on Saturday. Critics say the cautious approach encouraged unrest to spread across the capital and then to other English cities. In an emergency session of parliament Thursday, Prime Minister David Cameron said police would be given extra powers to prevent future trouble but also voiced criticism of their tactics. Cameron told lawmakers the police had initially "treated the situation too much as a public order issue -- rather than essentially one of crime." May, Britain's interior minister, has also said there were not enough officers on duty on Monday, the worst night of the unrest during which police in London arrested more than 300 people. But senior officers hit back Friday in rare public attacks on political leaders, who last year introduced funding cuts to police forces across Britain as part of a package of austerity measures. Tim Godwin, the acting head of the Metropolitan Police, pointedly noted that "people will always make comments who weren't there", and defended the policing of the riots in which dozens of officers were injured. He said in the face of "unprecedented scenes", his force had "some of the best commanders that we have seen in the world... that showed great restraint as well as great courage." Cameron and May were on holiday when the riots broke out, and returned early this week to take control, but senior officer Hugh Orde, who represents Britain's police chiefs, said their presence was an "irrelevance". He also criticised a claim by May that she had ordered police forces across the country to cancel all holiday, saying that she "has no power whatsoever to order the cancellation of police leave." Courts across the country, which have been working round the clock to process cases, faced another busy day on Friday to deal with the more than 500 people charged over the disturbances. Among those hauled before the courts on Thursday was an 18-year-old girl from London who is a youth ambassador for the 2012 London Olympics. She was accused of throwing bricks at police and stealing from shops. (AFP)

Pakistan: GHQ attack mastermind Dr Usman sentenced to death

Updated at: 1338 PST,  Saturday, August 13, 2011  ISLAMABAD: A military court has announced the sentence for seven accused in the GHQ attack Saturday, Geo News reported. The court had initiated the trial of the seven accused including Dr Usman following the attack on GHQ on October 10, 2009. The court sentenced Dr Usman to death while his accomplice former soldier Imran Siddiq was sentenced to life in prison. Three civilians were also sentenced to life in prison while two civilians were sentenced to seven years each in prison. At least 10 soldiers were killed during the attack on the army headquarters while nine of the ten attackers were also killed. Dr Usman was injured during the attack and taken into custody.

'Myanmar NLD must join reconciliation'

Sat Aug 13, 2011 5:19AM GMT

Aung San Suu Kyi stands at the Sein Lei Kan Tha State Guest House in Yangon, Myanmar, on Friday, August 12, 2011.

The Myanmar government has announced that the National League for Democracy (NLD) opposition movement should join a reconciliation process in the country.

Myanmar's Information Minister Kyaw Hsan said on Friday that the government is offering the NLD opportunities to serve the national interest in cohesion, the state-run BBC reported.

The government declared the NLD, which is led by Aung San Suu Kyi, illegal after the party boycotted the general election of last November, which ended almost 50 years of military rule in the country.

“In view of national reconciliation, the government is delicately and carefully handling the issue of the NLD, which has no legal right to exist,” Hsan said.

“If the NLD wants to get involved in politics, it should set up a legal party through formal procedures. The government is doing its best to invite the NLD to its national reconciliation process.”

On Friday, Suu Kyi met with Myanmar's Labor Minister Aung Kyi at the Sein Lei Kan Tha State Guest House in Yangon in an apparent sign of improving relations with the government.

She was put under house arrest after her last political tour in 2003 ended in tragedy when gangs, allegedly sponsored by the military regime, attacked her convoy and killed several NLD supporters. Suu Kyi was released in November 2010.

HSN/MB

US national abducted in Pakistan

Sat Aug 13, 2011 6:22AM GMT

Pakistani security officials gather at the compound of the house of a abducted American citizen in Lahore, Pakistan on Saturday, Aug. 13, 2011.

Unidentified men have kidnapped a 63-year-old US national from his residence in Model Town area of Pakistani city of Lahore.

Senior Superintendent Police Investigation, Abdul Razaq Cheema, said on Saturday that the American man, identified as Justin Warner, was taken from his residence by a group of ten persons, Xinhua reported.

Warner had been living at the compound for four or five years and only his guards and employees had been seen around his residence, neighbors said.

The abduction took place at 4 a.m. local time and the gunmen also beat the guard at the main gate, witnesses said.
No group has claimed responsibility for the incident.

All servants and guards working at the apparent residence of the US national are in police custody for interrogation, the police officer said.

Policemen have been dispatched to exit points of Lahore to prevent the gunmen from taking the American out of the city, police said.

MA/MB

Monsoon rains kill 21 in Pakistan

Fri Aug 12, 2011 3:33PM GMT

Heavy rain triggering flash flooding and landslides have killed at least 21 people in the southern Pakistani province of Sindh, officials say.

"At least 21 people died, most of them because of falling roofs during rains on Thursday night," AFP quoted a provincial official as saying.

Sources say flooding has also damaged and uprooted electric poles and plunged many areas into darkness.

Moreover, thousands of acres of cotton and sugar cane fields have been also destroyed due to inundation.

A state of emergency has been declared in the affected areas.

A Press TV correspondent says more lives are at risk from waterborne diseases in flood-hit region.

Last year, more than 1,750 people were killed by the weeks-long floods, which had engulfed an area the size of England.

SS/JR

No culture of fear on UK streets: British PM

LONDON: Prime Minister David Cameron on Thursday promised vigorous and wide-ranging measures to restore order and prevent riots erupting again on Britain's streets, including taking gang-fighting tips from American cities. Cameron told lawmakers there would be no "culture of fear" on Britain's streets, as police raided houses to round up more suspects from four days of rioting and looting in London and other English cities. He said the government was "acting decisively" to restore order after the riots, which shocked the country and the world. "We will not allow a culture of fear to exist on our streets," Cameron said. "We will not let a violent few beat us." Lawmakers were summoned back from their summer vacations for an emergency session of Parliament in the riots as government and police worked to regain control, both on the streets and in the court of public opinion. Calm prevailed in London overnight, with a highly visible police presence watching over the capital, but tensions remained high throughout the country. Cameron promised tough measures to stop further violence and said "nothing should be off the table," including water cannons and plastic bullets. He said riot-hit businesses would receive help to get back on their feet, and promised to look to the United States for help in fighting the street gangs he blamed for helping spark Britain's riots. Cameron told lawmakers that he would look to cities like Boston for inspiration, and mentioned former Los Angeles and New York Police Chief Bill Bratton as a person who could help offer advice. He said the government, police and intelligence services were looking at whether there should be limits on the use social media sites like Twitter and Facebook to spread disorder. Authorities are considering "whether it would be right to stop people communicating via these websites and services when we know they are plotting violence, disorder and criminality," he said. Meanwhile the number of people arrested in London rose to 922 since trouble began on Saturday, with 401 suspects charged. Deputy Assistant Commissioner Stephen Kavanagh said raids to round up suspects began overnight, and more than 100 warrants would be executed. Hugh Orde, head of the Association of Chief Police Officers, said there would be "hundreds more people in custody" by the end of the day. The violence has revived debate about the Conservative-led government's austerity measures and sparked debate from all parts of the political spectrum about its cause. But, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg said the "sociological debate" about the origins of the violence was for the future. The London police said it would keep up the huge operation involving 16,000 officers for at least one more night. There was a brief outbreak of trouble in Eltham, southeast London, where a group of largely white and middle-aged men who claimed to be defending their neighborhood pelted police with rocks and bottles. Police said the incident had been "dealt with" and a group was dispersed. There were chaotic scenes at courthouses, several of which sat through the night to process scores of alleged looters and vandals, including an 11-year-old boy. The defendants included Natasha Reid, a 24-year-old university graduate who admitted stealing a TV from a looted electronics store in north London. Her lawyer said she had turned herself in because she could not sleep because of guilt. Also due to appear in court were several people charged with using social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook to incite violence. Other cities where looters had rampaged earlier this week also came through the night largely unscathed, though for the first time minor disturbances were reported in Wales. Tensions flared in Birmingham, where a murder probe was opened after three men of Pakistani origin were killed in a hit-and-run incident as they took to the streets to defend shops from looting. Chris Sims, chief constable of West Midlands Police, said a man had been arrested on suspicion of murder. Police on Thursday were given more time to question him. The Conservative-led government's austerity measures is slashing 80 billion pounds ($130 billion) from public spending by 2015 to reduce the country's swollen budget deficit. Cameron's government has slashed police budgets as part of the cuts. A report last month said the cuts will mean 16,000 fewer police officers by 2015. Cameron said the cuts would not hit front-line officers. He said that "at the end of this process of making sure our police budgets are affordable we will still be able to surge as many police officers on to the streets as we have in recent days." But London Mayor Boris Johnson like Cameron, a Conservative broke with the government to say such cuts are wrong. Scenes of ransacked stores, torched cars and blackened buildings have frightened and outraged Britons just a year before their country is to host next summer's Olympic Games, bringing demands for a tougher response from law enforcement. Soccer authorities announced Thursday that Tottenham Hotspur's season-opening match against Everton on Saturday was being postponed following Saturday's disorder in the Tottenham neighborhood, which sparked trouble across England. Officials said there were ongoing safety concerns in the area around the north London club's White Hart Lane stadium, which has seen police resources stretched. A Wednesday match between England and the Netherlands at London's Wembley stadium also was canceled. Britain's riots began Saturday when an initially peaceful protest over a police shooting turned violent. That clash has morphed into general lawlessness that police struggled to halt. While the rioters have run off with goods every teen wants, new sneakers, bikes, electronics and leather goods, they also have torched stores apparently just to see something burn. They were left virtually unchallenged in several neighborhoods, and when police did arrive they often were able to flee quickly and regroup. (AP)

US F-16 pounds Afghan copter shooters

Thu Aug 11, 2011 7:38AM GMT

US soldiers board a military Chinook helicopter in Mehtar Lam in Afghanistan's Laghman province on July 19, 2011.

The United States claims a US airstrike has thrashed Afghan attackers suspected of shooting down an American Chinook helicopter carrying 31 US military personnel last Saturday.

US Marine Corps Gen. John R. Allen said the military in Afghanistan tracked the attackers after they shot down the helicopter during the weekend, the UPI reported on Wednesday.

A group of militants, numbering fewer than ten people, were together as the location was hit by an F-16 strike, Allen claimed without offering further details. The airstrike occurred Monday, Pentagon officials said.

US military officials have said in a press statement that the airstrike also killed a militant leader named Mullah Mohibullah, who was allegedly part of the group that shot down the helicopter and escaped.

“After an exhaustive manhunt, Special Operations forces located Mullah Mohibullah and the shooter after receiving multiple intelligence leads and tips from local citizens,'' the statement said. “The two men were attempting to flee the country in order to avoid capture.''

The Afghan attackers are said to have downed the US Chinook with an RPG rocket launcher.

According to Gen. Allen, this is the only case in which an American Chinook helicopter has been shot down during night operations in Afghanistan.

Reports indicate that those killed in the Chinook shooting included 23 members of the elite US Navy SEALs unit, three Air Force special-operations personnel and an army helicopter crew of five. Seven Afghan commandos and a civilian Afghan translator were also killed in the attack.

It was the greatest loss of life for the US military in a single day during the nearly decade-long US war in Afghanistan.

The Pentagon does not allow any media coverage of the dead US soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan.

GHN/MB

Blast kills 5, wounds 21 in Pakistan

Thu Aug 11, 2011 7:8AM GMT

A policeman picks up debris at the site of a blast at a checkpoint on the outskirts of Peshawar, Pakistan, March 5, 2011. (File photo)

A bomb attack has killed at least four policemen and a child and wounded 21 others in the city of Peshawar in northwest Pakistan.

The incident occurred on Thursday when a roadside bomb went off as a police van was passing in Gulbahar area of Peshawar, a Press TV correspondent reported.

Police officials said among the injured were 14 policemen and seven civilians.

Just after the attack, security forces cordoned off the area and shifted the injured to a local hospital.

No group has claimed responsibility for the bombing.

In the past few years, Peshawar has been hit by numerous bomb explosions, some of which resulted in heavy casualties.

Pakistani officials blame the violent attacks mainly on militants that are highly active in the country's tribal belt.

On Wednesday, unknown gunmen attacked a police check post in southwestern Balochistan province of Pakistan and killed at least two policemen and injured three others.

MSH/HJL/MB

Gunmen kill 2 policemen in Pakistan

Thu Aug 11, 2011 5:13AM GMT

Suspected pro-Taliban militants (file photo)

Unknown gunmen have killed at least two policemen and injured three others in the southwestern province of Balochistan in Pakistan.

Officials said the incident occurred when the assailants riding on a motorcycle opened fire at a police check post on Samangli road in Quetta city on Wednesday, a Press TV correspondent reported.

The attackers managed to escape the scene after the incident, the officials added.

Just after the attack, security forces cordoned off the area and transferred the injured policemen to a local hospital.

No group has yet taken responsibility for the attack.

Pro-Taliban militants have spread their influence in various regions, killing people and security forces on an almost daily basis despite an offensive by the Pakistani government.

There has also been a surge in militant bomb attacks in Pakistan since late 2009.

MSH/HJL/MB