13 dead, several injured as bomb hit PAF bus in Kohat

A powerful bomb blast ripped through a Pakistan Air Force (PAF) bus in the in Kohat on Tuesday, killing at least 13 people and wounding another 15, police said.

The explosion happened as the bus passed over a bridge on the outskirts of the city. An AFP photographer saw a large crater in which the mangled wreckage of the bus was lying, while the scene was spattered with blood.

"Thirteen dead bodies and 15 injured have now been brought here," Khan Abbas, a police official deployed to Peshawar's main Lady Reading hospital, told AFP.

The vehicle was used for carrying rations and was travelling from the Badaber base to Kohat when it was hit by the bomb at about 11:00 am (0500 GMT), a PAF spokesman said.

"There were some PAF civilians as well travelling in the vehicle, we are trying to ascertain exactly how many were inside," the spokesman told AFP.

"We don't know whether it was a suicide attack or a roadside bomb."

The police chief of North West Frontier Province, Malik Naveed Khan, said the bomb appeared to have been remotely detonated.

"So far, according to my information, it was a security vehicle and an IED (improvised explosive device) was planted under the bridge," Khan said.