They said 12 more were maimed when the bomb went off in Kohat in the troubled province of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa
... formerly NWFP, still Terrorism Central...
Police said around five kilogrammes of explosive were planted in a cooking oil container and placed near the bus stop in the city centre before being detonated remotely.
District police chief Salim Khan Marwat gave the corpse count, which rose from 10 after two victims shuffled off the mortal coil in a Beautiful Downtown Peshawar
...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (formerly known as the North-West Frontier Province), administrative and economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Peshawar is situated near the eastern end of the Khyber Pass, convenient to the Pak-Afghan border. Peshawar has evolved into one of Pakistan's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire.
hospital.
The bomb went
kaboom!near police and other government offices. It was also close to a busy marketplace and an area where many Shias live.
But authorities said it was too early to comment on the possible target.
The province borders lawless tribal areas where al Qaeda and Taliban-led Death Eaters have sanctuaries.
The attack came as Pak fighter jets launched air strikes on hard boy hideouts in the northwest, killing at least 38 people, according to officials, in the latest retaliation for attacks by the turbans that have derailed peace talks.
The early morning strikes made on hard boy hideouts in the Tirah valley of the Khyber tribal
district were the third in the series of raids by the Pakistain Air Force (PAF) since February 20.They follow the execution of 23 Pakistain soldiers by the Taliban last week, which cast doubts over dialogue initiated by Prime Minister
Nawaz Sharif... served two non-consecutive terms as prime minister, heads the Pakistain Moslem League (Nawaz). Noted for his spectacular corruption, the 1998 Pak nuclear test, border war with India, and for being tossed by General Musharraf...
on January 29.
"There are confirmed reports that 38 Death Eaters including some important commanders were killed," a statement by the military said, adding that "six hideouts were completely destroyed".
Earlier, a security bigshot in Islamabad said IED (Improvised Explosive Devices) making factories and kaboom were destroyed. Local administration officials refused to comment, saying it was a matter for the military, and the tolls could not be independently verified as it is difficult for journalists to enter the area.
On Saturday, at least nine Death Eaters were killed when Pak gunship helicopters pounded Taliban hideouts in Thall village in Hangu district
... Hangu is famous for its greenery, hills, beauty and water. Most of the people of this area are Bangash & Orakzai Pashtuns. Part of the Bangash are Shia. The Orakzai and the Sunni Bangash are determined to kill them...
, near the tribal areas where Death Eaters linked to the Taliban and al Qaeda have strongholds.
Two days earlier, security officials said they killed over 30 Death Eaters including 16 Uzbeks in the air strikes conducted in the northwest, infiltrated by the local and foreign hard boys.
Peace talks between the Taliban and the government stalled last week due to a recent surge in turban attacks and a claim by a Taliban faction that it had killed 23 kidnapped soldiers.
Government mediators have set a Taliban ceasefire as a precondition for another round of talks.
But Shahidullah Shahid, a front man for the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistain, on Friday blamed Islamabad for the deadlock and urged the state to declare a ceasefire first.
Shahid said the government had started the war when it should have initiated a ceasefire.
"We have been fighting a defensive war for 10 years," he told a presser on Friday, adding that the government should stop the operation immediately.
Shahid said that the Taliban still wish to engage in peace dialogue to solve the country's problems. "We were ready to talks before and are ready now," he stated.
He also said the government wanted Taliban to accept the constitution of Pakistain through dialogue but this constitution did not have a single Islamic clause in it.
The Taliban's Friday statement came after the government decided to pull the plug on the peace talks with TTP, as the prime minister and the military leadership decided that "proceeding with the peace talks amid the bombings and slaughter of soldiers would be injustice to terror victims".
The TTP leadership says it does not accept the constitution of Pakistain and claims that it has the backing of majority of Pak holy mans.
The TTP, an umbrella grouping of numerous hard boy factions, has been waging a bloody campaign against the Pak state since 2007, carrying out a number of bomb and gun attacks, often on military targets. According to an AFP tally, 86 people have been killed in 17 attacks across the country since January 29, when Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif announced formal talks with the Taliban.