Bomb blast kills six in northwest Pakistan

A bomb planted in a vehicle went off near a petrol station in northwestern Pakistan on Monday, killing six people, including two women and three children, and wounding eight, police said.

There has been a lull in militant violence in Pakistan in recent weeks after security forces pushed back Taliban insurgents in the northwestern Swat Valley and stepped up attacks on Pakistani Taliban in the South Waziristan region.

Senior police officer Sifwat Ghayyur told reporters in the town of Charssada, where the blast took place, that the bomb was hidden in a box of medicine given to the vehicle’s driver to deliver in a nearby village. (Reuters)