Official: Pakistani officer killed in in roadside bomb blast

PESHAWAR, Pakistan – A roadside bomb struck a vehicle carrying police officers in northwest Pakistan on Friday, killing at least one officer and wounding 13 others, police said.

Also, an explosion caused by a gas leak at a hotel killed five people in the northwest.

The attack on police took place in a congested bazaar in Bannu, a city in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province bordering Afghanistan, area police chief Attique Khan said. He said the bomb also damaged shops and some passers-by were among those wounded by the blast.

No one claimed responsibility for the attack, but suspicion fell on militants who often target security forces in the region.

Earlier, an explosion caused by a gas leak at a hotel killed five members of a family and wounded two other people in the northwestern city of Peshawar. According to city police chief Qazi Jamilur Rehman, a fire followed the explosion but was extinguished by firefighters.

Guests were evacuated from the Hotel Afandi in the Bilal Town neighbourhood, he said.

Rehman said the explosion and fire occurred on the fourth floor of the hotel and authorities later concluded the blast was caused by a gas leak.