Policeman killed, 6 injured in suicide bombing in Pakistan

A policeman was killed and six others were injured in a suicide bombing on security forces in northwestern Pakistan on Monday, police said.

The incident - latest in a series of suicide attacks in recent months - occurred in the Lakki Marwat district of northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, which borders neighboring Afghanistan.

The suspected suicide bomber blew himself up near a security vehicle, while his accomplice managed to escape, Asif Hassan, a spokesman for Lakki Marwat police, told reporters.

The bombing took place a day after security forces foiled a suicide bombing and another attack in the Noukandi and Mastung districts of southwestern Balochistan province on Sunday, killing several militants, a spokesman for the Frontier Corps, a paramilitary force, said.

Lakki Marwat, along with the adjoining Bannu and North Waziristan tribal districts, has long been witnessing militant attacks as the South Asian country has seen a surge in attacks in recent years.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, in a statement, condemned the attack and paid tribute to the deceased and injured police personnel.

Pakistan saw an 80% jump in civilian fatalities but a sharp 65% reduction in security forces' losses in terrorist attacks, according to the Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies, an Islamabad-based think tank.

In its latest monthly report, the think tank said that some 292 people were killed and 164 injured in anti-state violence and security forces' countermeasures across the country during November.