ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - A suspected suicide bomber attacked police in the northwestern Pakistani town of Mardan on Friday, killing three people, police said.
Pakistan has seen a surge in militant violence since last year with security forces attacking militants in sanctuaries near the Afghan border and the militants responding with suicide bomb attacks.
"Apparently it was a suicide attack. The attack targeted a police escort. At least four people were killed," Mardan police chief Akhtar Ali Shah told Reuters.
One of the dead appeared to be the bomber and a severed head had been found, he said. Suicide bombers usually strap explosives to their bodies and their heads are cut off in the blast.
Mardan, 110 km (70 miles) northwest of Islamabad, is in North West Frontier Province and is the gateway to the Bajaur region on the Afghan border where security forces have been fighting militants since August.
(Reporting by Zeeshan Haider; Writing by Robert Birsel; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani)
