A bomb wounded 11 people, mostly children, when it exploded outside a Pakistani girls’ school on Thursday, a doctor said.
The bomb went off at the end of the school day as pupils walked into a street lined with fabric shops in the northwestern town of Bannu, which has been a flashpoint for Islamist militancy.
Doctor Omar Zeb said that 11 people had been brought to the local hospital – seven primary schoolgirls and four other people who had been outside in the street.
Police official Azad Khan said that at least four girls, two boys and a man had been wounded. Three of them are in serious condition he said.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility but Islamist militants frequently attack girls’ schools – usually when the buildings are empty in the evening or during the holidays.
Last October the Taliban shot schoolgirl activist Malala Yousafzai in the head in the northwestern Swat valley.