Bomb kills 12 in northwest Pakistan

PESHAWAR, Feb 23 (AFP): A bomb placed near a bus stop killed 10 people including two women and a child in a northwestern Pakistani city on Sunday, police said, adding 14 more were injured.
The bomn went off in the city of Kohat in the troubled province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, which borders Pakistan's lawless tribal areas where Al-Qaeda and Taliban-led militants have sanctuaries.
Police said around five kilogrammes (11 pounds) of explosive were planted in a cooking oil container and placed near the bus stop in the city centre before being detonated remotely.
"After getting the latest reports from the hospitals where the dead bodies and injured were taken, we can now confirm that 10 people have been killed and 14 others are injured," district police chief Salim Khan Marwat told AFP.
The bomb exploded near police and other government offices. It was also close to a busy marketplace and an area where many minority Shiite Muslims live.
But authorities said it was too early to comment on the possible target.
The attack came hours after Pakistan air force jets bombed militant hideouts in the tribal district of Khyber, killing 18 suspected insurgents and destroying two hideouts, according to security sources.
On Saturday a roadside bomb targeting a local leader of a nationalist party in Buner district in the northwest killed three people and wounded two.