By Faris Ali
PESHAWAR, Pakistan (Reuters) - A bomb hit a school bus in the northwestern Pakistan city of Peshawar Monday, killing a passerby and wounding two schoolgirls and two other people, officials said.
Police inspector Mehmood Khan said the bomb was placed among roadside rubbish.
"When I saw the smoke, I ran towards my teachers at the back (of the bus). The teachers said 'come, come'. So we got off the bus," six-year-old Eman, one of the wounded, told Reuters television at a hospital where she was lying on a bed with her head bandaged.
The driver of the bus, who was also wounded, said the bomb went off shortly after some of the teachers stepped off: "There was a sudden explosion. After that, I did not have my senses. I fell."
The bomb sprayed garbage and dirt inside the Islamia Model High School Bus.
Senior city administration official Siraj Ahmed said one passerby was killed and the driver, two schoolchildren and another passerby were wounded.
Two suspects were detained at the scene. A police official said the bomb may have been intended for one of the police patrols that frequently drive through the area.
The government, which Washington sees as an ally in its war against militancy, faces a growing threat from what officials and analysts call a growing nexus of militant groups, including al Qaeda and Pakistani Taliban militants. Some are anti-Western while others are driven mostly by sectarian hatred.
Pakistani authorities are on alert for sectarian violence during Moharram, the holiest month for Shi'ite Muslims, which is currently under way. Sunni militant groups often attack Shi'ite gatherings during this period.
The United States wants Pakistan to find and attack militants who cross its northwest border to attack Western and Afghan forces battling a Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan.
Security forces killed three militants and wounded five on Monday in Ghalanai, the main town in the northwestern Mohmand region, after militants attacked a paramilitary post, a government official said. There was no independent verification of the casualties.
(Additional reporting by Fayaz Aziz in Peshawar and Kamran Haider and Zeeshan Haider in Islamabad; Writing by Michael Georgy, editing by Tim Pearce)