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Deadly blast hits government office in Pakistan 'Taliban splinter group behind deadly blast at government office in Pakistan'
(about 1 hour later)
An explosion outside a government office in north-west Pakistan has killed at least 12 people and wounded 35. A breakaway Taliban group has claimed responsibility for a suicide bomb attack on a government building in Pakistan that has killed at least 22 people and wounded 45.
The bomb attack in the city of Mardan took place outside the regional office of the National Database and Registration Authority, which issues identity cards. The bombing took place in the city of Mardan on Tuesday, outside the regional office of the National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra) which issues identity cards to Pakistanis, according to senior police officer Saeed Khan Wazir.
Police said they were trying to determine whether the attack was carried out by a suicide bomber or whether the bomb was rigged to a motorcycle. A spokesman for the militant Jamaat-ul-Ahrar group, which split from the main Pakistani Taliban group the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) two years ago, said the attack was intended to “punish Nadra because it extends support to security forces”.
No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack but previous such attacks have been blamed on the Pakistani Taliban. The Pakistani prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, condemned the bombing and instructed authorities to provide the best possible treatment for the wounded.
Mardan is about 30 miles north-west of Peshawar, the capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province bordering Afghanistan. Mardan is about 30 miles north-west of Peshawar, the capital of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province bordering Afghanistan.