Suicide blast kills at least 10 in Pakistan

A suicide bomber killed at least 10 people Tuesday in a rush-hour attack on a market on the outskirts of the Pakistani city of Peshawar, officials said.

Another 36 were injured when the bomb exploded alongside a road jammed with traffic in the Wazir Dhand district just outside city limits. The highway links the Khyber tribal district and the northwestern city.

"The number of deaths from the attack has increased to 10," Shahab Ali Shah, a Khyber tribal district administration official, told AFP. 

The dead included a 36-year-old journalist who had been visiting a tribal police official -- the bomber's apparent target -- in the market, he said. 

Grief-stricken colleagues of the journalist, who worked for two local Urdu newspapers, comforted each other in the market after the attack. 

A hospital official said a seven-year-old was among the dead and six of the injured were in serious condition.

Ismatullah, a senior government official in the area, also confirmed the target had been a police official sitting in the market alongside the road.

The blast also damaged three shops, as well as cars and motorcycles on the road, he said.

Khyber is one of Pakistan's seven tribal districts situated next to Peshawar and bordering Afghanistan. 

The mountainous forest regions have for years been home to some of the world's most notorious militants linked to Al-Qaeda or the Taliban.

Islamabad launched a military offensive in 2014 that has reportedly killed thousands of militants and pushed the rest over the border to Afghanistan, resulting in improved security inside Pakistan. 

However, insurgents associated with Pakistan's homegrown Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan occasionally carry out attacks from bases in Afghanistan.