At least a dozen people have been killed and over 50 others wounded after two bombs went off outside a district court in Pakistan’s northwestern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, local media say.

“First there was a small blast followed by a big blast” on Friday morning in the city of Mardan in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, said Haris Habib, a local rescue officer.

There were lawyers, police officers and civilians among the victims, the official added.

No militant group has yet claimed the court attack, but shortly afterwards, the Taliban-linked Jamaat-ul-Ahrar militant group in Pakistan claimed responsibility for an earlier attack on a Christian majority area in the Khyber tribal region.

Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, a breakaway faction of the Pakistani Taliban, was also behind another terror attack which left 20 people dead in Mardan last December.



[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="555"] Pakistani soldiers cordon off a street leading to the site of a bomb attack on the outskirts of Peshawar on September 2, 2016. ©AFP[/caption]

Earlier in the day, a security officials and civilian lost their lives when four armed men wearing explosive vests attacked the neighborhood near Warsak Dam, 20 kilometers (12 miles) northwest of Peshawar City.

The Pakistani military said a gun battle erupted between its forces and the attackers, adding that the situation was under control and all the assailants were killed.

“A house to house search is in progress,” the military said, adding that five people also sustained injuries in the attack.

Reacting to the court attack, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said in a statement that the explosions would “not shatter our unflinching resolve in our war against terrorism.”

“These receding elements are showing frustration by attacking our soft targets. They shall not get space to hide in Pakistan,” the statement added.

Last month, a bomb attack near the Civil Hospital in Quetta city of Balochistan Province left at least 70 people, mostly lawyers, dead and over 110 others wounded.

The Quetta massacre was claimed by both Jamaat-ul-Ahrar and the Daesh Takfiri terror group.

By Press TV