Seven killed in blast in northwest Pakistan market, police say

Seven people, including two police officers and five civilians, were killed and dozens wounded in a blast at a market in north-western Pakistan on Tuesday, a senior police officer said, the second deadly attack in the region in four days.

The bomb blast - which took place in Tehsil Sarai Nawrang Bazar near Bannu district on the border with Afghanistan - threatens to reignite tensions between the neighbours whose militaries clashed fiercely this year.

Ambulances and fire vehicles have been dispatched to the scene of the blast, the agency involved in rescue activities said in a statement.

Those with serious injuries had been rushed to hospitals in Bannu, Deputy Superintendent of Police Nawrang Saeed Khan said.

Mohammad Ishaq, the medical superintendent of THQ Hospital, said they had received 37 patients so far and that the condition of some of them was critical.

Visuals from the scene of the blast showed damaged shopfronts and a mangled vehicle.

A car bombing followed by an ambush at a police post in the same region killed 15 police personnel on Saturday. Pakistan blamed Afghanistan-based militants for the attack and delivered a strong protest to Kabul.

The Afghan Taliban government said on Monday it has no comment to offer immediately.

Pakistan has blamed Kabul for harbouring rebels who it says use Afghan soil to plot attacks in Pakistan. The Taliban has denied the allegations and said militancy in Pakistan is an internal problem.