Police say blast strikes near school in NW Pakistani city of Peshawar, no word on casualties

Police: Blast hits next to school in NW Pakistan

PESHAWAR, Pakistan — An explosion struck Monday near a school run by a police foundation in the northwest Pakistani city of Peshawar, police said. There was no immediate word on casualties.

The nature of the blast was not clear, police official Haroon Khan said. However, several suicide attacks have hit the Taliban-riddled regions near the Afghan border in recent days, including two attacks in the Kohat area that killed around 50 people over the weekend.

The Police Public School was in session when the explosion went off. The school is run by a police welfare foundation, which tries to raise money to help families of police officers.

Also Monday, suspected Taliban militants in the northwest detonated two bombs that destroyed a pair of oil tankers along a vital supply route used by NATO and U.S. forces in Afghanistan.

No one was wounded, but the fire also engulfed a flatbed truck and nearby shops in the Takhta Beg area of the Khyber tribal region, local official Iqbal Khan said

Alleged Taliban militants and ordinary criminals frequently attack vehicles along the supply route that runs through the famed Khyber Pass into Afghanistan. The U.S. and NATO say their Afghan operations have felt limited impact, but they are establishing alternate routes.