Pakistani policemen inspect the damaged police vehicle in Dera Ismail Khan yesterday, a day after a bomb targeted a police party. Five people including three policemen were killed when the bomb apparently targeting a police party exploded in northwestern Pakistan. Photo: AFP

Five people including three police officers were killed when a bomb apparently targeting police exploded in northwestern Pakistan overnight, police said yesterday.
The remote-controlled device, planted on a bicycle, detonated late Friday in Dera Ismail Khan town, local police chief Ghaffar Qaisarani told AFP.
The bicycle was parked near an open place where another bomb had earlier exploded without causing harm, he said.
The bicycle bomb exploded soon after police arrived to investigate the first incident, he said. More than a dozen people were wounded, including nine police officers.
"It appears the police party was the target," he said.
No group has claimed responsibility for the attack.
Qaisarani believed the blast could be linked to the unrest in North West Frontier Province and the rugged tribal terrain bordering Afghanistan.
Dera Ismail Khan is in the grip of sectarian tension after recent clashes between militants from the majority Sunni and the minority Shiite Muslim communities.
Pakistan has suffered a spate of attacks in recent days despite ongoing peace talks between the new government, which took power in March, and Islamic militants based in the lawless northwestern tribal regions.