11 seconds ago 2009-12-09T14:25:03-08:00
PESHAWAR, Pakistan (Reuters) – A suicide bomber in an auto-rickshaw blew himself up in Pakistan on Monday, killing three people, when police stopped him at a checkpoint on the outskirts of the city of Peshawar, police said.
Islamist militants have unleashed a campaign of attacks in Pakistan in recent weeks in retaliation for a major offensive by security forces on their main bastion of South Waziristan on the Afghan border.
"It was a suicide attack. The bomber was in a rickshaw and detonated his explosives when the rickshaw was stopped for a check," said police official Zafar Khan.
"One of our constables, a passerby and the rickshaw driver were killed," he said.
A suicide bomber killed an anti-Taliban village mayor and 11 other people in an attack near Peshawar on Sunday.
(Additional reporting by Zeeshan Haider; Writing by Robert Birsel; Editing by Jerry Norton)
