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Three suicide bombers stormed into the Kotwali police station premises located in a congested neighbourhood in the heart of Peshawar under the cover of heavy fire from assault rifles, throwing grenades and once inside blew themselves up, officials said.
"Three policemen were killed in the attack. Though no one has claimed responsibility, the attackers appear to be members of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan," Mian Iftikhar Hussian, the Information Minister of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province, told reporters in Peshawar.
The attackers exchanged fire with policemen inside the building for almost 40 minutes and targeted the station because it housed a large number of policemen.
The attack came a day after a car bomb ripped through a bus station in the turbulent city, killing 12 people, including two children, unleashing concerns over a wave of new terror attacks.
Peshawar police chief Imtiaz Altaf said the militants hurled grenades at policemen guarding the gates of the police station. The policemen promptly responded to the attack and the bombers were left with "no other option but to explode themselves", he said. Other officials said an officer was among those killed in the attack.
The Kotwali police station is one of the largest in Peshawar and over 200 policemen were present in the building at the time of the attack. Besides housing recruits, it has an office of the Special Branch and residential quarters are attached to it. Two of the attackers appeared to be brothers as they had similar facial features, Information Minister Hussain said.
Officials at the Lady Reading Hospital said two of the injured were in a critical condition. Local residents told the media that they had heard three small blasts followed by a huge explosion and gunfire. A girls` school is located near the police station and students could not get out of the building because of fear, they said.
