PESHAWAR, March 29: Twelve people were killed when a suicide bomber attacked the vehicle of Commandant of Frontier Constabulary in the province Abdul Majeed Marwat in the high-security cantonment area here on Friday. Two women and two security personnel were among the dead and about 25 people were injured.

According to an official, the bomber blew himself up when the FC commandant was going from his residence on Khyber Road to FC Headquarters on Shershah Suri Road.

It appears that the bomber was waiting for the commandant and decided to strike when vehicles in the convoy slowed down near a speed-breaker. In a close-circuit TV footage the bomber seemed to be in his 20s. The FC commandant miraculously survived the attack, he added. Police officials said the main target of the bomber was the FC commandant who escaped unhurt. He was taken to the FC Headquarters and the area was cordoned off by law-enforcement personnel.

An official of inter-services public relations confirmed that bodies of four people and 17 injured were in the Combined Military Hospital (CMH) where one soldier of military police was in critical condition.

Of the eight bodies taken to the Lady Reading Hospital (LRH), three were identified as those of Anees from Mashogagar, Manzoor Hussain from Kakshal and Alamzeb from Landi Arbab. Five bodies, including that of a 12-year-old girl, were mutilated almost beyond recognition.

Five FC personnel and three other injured were taken to the LRH where two of them are reported to be battling for their lives.

LRH chief executive Prof Dr Arshad Javaid told reporters that two people had died before having been brought to the hospital.

The blast shattered windows of nearly buildings and damaged many vehicles.

The site of the blast is on the Fakhr Alam Road, a few hundred yards from the CMH where every passerby and vehicle are checked by military personnel.

Officials said it was a busy area and the bomber might have come from the opposite side of the cantonment plaza where people were not checked.

But, Cantonment Circle SP Faisal Kamran said that initial investigation indicated the bomber had walked from the Fakhr Alam Road Chowk and he attacked the convoy before crossing the military checkpoint.

“We did not have information about this specific incident although there was information that important installations and personalities could be attacked,” the SP said, adding that police had already beefed up security at different entry points.

Bomb disposal unit personnel said that legs of the bomber had been found at the blast site.

According to them, about 8 to 10 kilograms of explosives were used in the blast and the explosive device contained ball-bearings.

An injured FC man, Rehman Saeed, told Dawn that his vehicle had just crossed a speed-breaker ahead of the commandant’s vehicle when the blast took place.

Eyewitness Mohammad Rauf said he was going towards Mall Road at the time. “We narrowly escaped when an FC vehicle went out of the driver’s control due to the blast,” he said.