KOHAT, Dec 17: At least 12 army recruits were killed in a suicide attack in the heart of the Kohat cantonment area near the Army Public College on Monday morning.

According to hospital sources, two soldiers were injured.

Military authorities sealed the area after the blast, leaving parents of students of the college in panic and distress. The parents were allowed to pick their children two hours later.

The recruits were returning to their barracks after the morning exercise when a boy aged 15 to 17 years made a dash towards them and blew himself up. Ten recruits were killed on the spot and two others died later in hospital. The injured were taken to the Combined Military Hospital.

Military officials and intelligence personnel collected the remains of the suicide bomber.

On July 19, a suicide blast in a mosque in an army compound in the same area had claimed 22 lives.

After the incident, the military tightened security in and around the cantonment area and set up dozens of checkpoints. However, the suicide bomber managed to penetrate the security ring with more than 5kg of explosives and hit his target.

Investigators said the remains of the bomber would be sent for DNA tests to ascertain his identity.

Those who died in the attack are: Rafique, Shahid, Adnan, Mushtaq, Ghulam Mohammad, Rashid, Irfan, Mohammad Nawaz, Mansoor Ali, Iftikhar Ullah, Ehsanullah and Mashooq Ali. Amjid and Shaukat Masih were injured.