Seven Pakistani police officers killed in targeted bomb attack

Seven Pakistani police officers were killed in a targeted bomb blast on their armoured vehicle on Monday, police in the northwestern Tank district said, as Islamabad contends with a rising wave of militancy.



Images of the attack showed the mangled wreckage of the vehicle overturned on the roadside.



In a statement, the Islamist militant group Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan claimed responsibility for the attack.



Tank deputy police chief Pervez Shah said five police personnel were killed on the spot after the remote-controlled bomb went off, while two others had died in hospital.



"The brave policemen sacrificed their today for the peaceful future of the nation," Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi said in a statement.



Pakistan's northern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, where Tank is located, has battled a resurgence of militant violence carried out primarily by Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan.