ISLAMABAD, 12 September 2007 — Eighteen people were killed and several injured yesterday when a teenager blew himself up at the Bannu toll post in Dera Ismail Khan.
The bomber boarded the van at a village near Dera Ismail Khan. At the Bannu toll post he was challenged by police who thought he was acting suspiciously, said Habibur Rehman, the district’s police chief. When police stopped the van and the suspected bomber was asked to come down to be searched, he detonated the explosives strapped to his body, said city councilor Malik Khan Zaman. Two policemen were among the dead, he said.
Television footage showed blood splattered at the scene and several nearby vehicles, including a jeep, damaged by the explosion. Police were seen collecting body parts in plastic bags.
According to witnesses, the bomber appeared to be only 14 or 15 years old.
