Four young children were killed and a senior police officer escaped an attempt on his life in two separate incidents in Pakistan's restive northwest on Friday, officials said.
Four children were killed and a woman was injured when a mortar shell, fired from an unknown location, hit a car in Shalobar area of Khyber tribal region.
Officials said the occupants of the car were travelling to a safer place after troops warned an operation could be launched against the banned Lashkar-e-Islam group. The dead included a girl and three boys, aged between three and nine years.
They were all from the same family. More than 250,000 people have fled fighting in Khyber Agency since January.
Authorities had set May 10 as the deadline for residents of Shalobar area in Khyber Agency to move to safer areas due to a possible military operation. Scores of families have begun leaving the region, state-run media reported.
In a separate incident, Deputy Superintendent of police Banaras Khan escaped an attempt on his life when a remote-controlled bomb exploded near his vehicle at Chughulpura Road in Peshawar, the capital of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province.
Police said suspected militants had planted a device containing one kilogram of explosives near a manhole in Chughulpura.
The target of the bombing was Khan, whose vehicle passed the area shortly before the device was detonated. Soon after the blast, security forces cordoned off the area and started a search operation.
