Suicide bomber kills policeman, wounds 6 in Northwestern Pakistan

A suicide bomber Saturday struck a police patrol in a town in northwestern Pakistan, killing a policeman and wounding six others, police said. The bombing took place at a market in Katalang, 50 kilometres (30 miles) northeast of Peshawar, the capital of restive Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province which borders Afghanistan. "A policeman was killed and two other policemen were wounded when a suicide bomber blew himself up close to a police patrol car," senior police official Shafi Ullah told AFP. Four civilians were also wounded in the suicide bombing, Ullah said. After the bombing police chased an alleged handler of the suicide bomber and killed him in a shoot out, the official said. Two other police officials confirmed the account and casualties. Nobody immediately claimed responsibility for the bombing, they said, but Taliban militants in the past have carried out several bombings in the region. Pakistan says more than 35,000 people have been killed as a result of terrorism in the country since the 9/11 attacks on the United States.