At least 25 people were injured, said the authorities representative Hashim Khan. Many of the wounded would be in mortal danger.
It was not yet clear whether the bomb had been placed outside the Koran school on the market in the district of Orakzai or whether a suicide bomber had blown up. Further details remained unknown at first, so far no terrorist group has known about the attack.
Orakzai is one of seven semi-autonomous tribal regions on the border with Afghanistan. The area is characterized by unrest. According to the US, the region is a haven for extremists, including the Afghan Taliban and al-Qaeda terror network. Islamabad rejects this. Pakistan has been targeting Islamist groups in the area since 2004.
Shortly before, at least six people were killed in an attack on the Chinese consulate in the Pakistani city of Karachi. Two victims were policemen and one a security guard, said a police spokesman. The three other dead were the attackers.
A Pakistani separatist group claimed the attack for itself. A spokesman for Balochistan’s Liberation Army group told AFP on the phone that his group had perpetrated the attack. The attack is not over yet.
The police chief of Karachi, Amir Shaikh, said the assassins were shot dead. One had been killed outside the consulate, two others had made it into the visa department and were killed there. No Chinese citizen was harmed.
The port city Karachi is located in the south of Pakistan. It is the largest city and financial center in the country. Chinese citizens and infrastructure projects have been attacked several times in the past by Islamist and national militants.
