3rd LD Writethru: Pakistan Taliban claim responsibility for NW Pakistan suicide attack

A splinter group of Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan claimed responsibility for a suicide attack that killed eight people and injured 14 others in the country's northwest Charsadda district on Monday morning.

"We have carried out the attack that was aimed at the session court," Ehsanullah Ehsan, spokesman for the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan Jammat-ul-Ahrar group told local media.

Saeed Wazir, the deputy inspector general police, said the suicide bomber opened fire at the policemen who tried to stop him for checking at the entrance of the court and later blew up himself upon being cornered.

He said 18 policemen were deployed for the security of the court and three of them were killed while six others including a lady constable were injured.

He said about 200 to 250 people were inside the court when the incident happened.

Wazir said the explosion happened when routine procedures were going on in the session court of the Shabqadar area of Charsadda, a district located in the country's northwest Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

Five ambulances took part in shifting the injured to a nearby hospital from where 11 seriously wounded persons including the policemen and two kids were moved to Lady Reading Hospital Peshawar.

The hospital authorities said death toll is feared to rise as six among the injured are said to be in critical condition.

Sohail Khalid, a district police officer, said the bomber was a teenager between 14 and 16 years old and his body parts will be sent to a forensic lab for investigation.

Several nearby shops and four vehicles were destroyed in the blast which rocked the district at about 11:20 a.m. (local time).

Police and paramilitary troops have cordoned off the area for investigations.

Pakistan's Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has condemned the blast and vowed to eradicate the militancy from the country. Endit