A massive blast ripped through a residential area for police officials and their families in north-western Pakistan Tuesday, killing 17 people and injuring over 20, rescue officials said, reported DPA
The car bomb destroyed dozens of apartments used for police in the Kohat district of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, 70 kilometres south of provincial capital Peshawar.
"Seventeen people are killed and several more injured," said Mujahid Khan, an official with Edhi rescue service.
"People are buried under the rubble of the houses and our workers can hear women and children crying for help," Khan added. "It was a massive blast and destruction is huge. The death toll might rise."
He said that women and children are among the dead. The residential quarters were built for low and mid-ranking policemen, who lived there with their families.
The explosion was so powerful that it smashed windowpanes of several nearby buildings.
The power supply was suspended after the attack, making it difficult for the rescuers to move victims to hospitals. Local volunteers were also helping officials to move the dead and injured.
Militants have launched a deadly campaign of bombing after a brief lull due to floods, which devastated one-fifth of the impoverished country.
At least 60 people were killed and over 168 injured when a suicide bomber detonated himself at the center of rally in Quetta, capital of south-western Baluchistan province on Friday