A TALIBAN SUICIDE bomber rammed a car loaded with explosives into a police station in northwestern Pakistan on Thursday, killing five and wounding more than two dozen people.

It was the second attack in as many days against police in Hangu, a district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province that has been hit by militants many times over the past several years.

The dead included one officer and four passers-by, said Rashid Khan, the top police official in Hangu. Most of the roughly 30 wounded in the attack in Doaba town were also passers-by, he said.

The police tried to stop the bomber to check his car for explosives but he sped past them into the station, said Khan. The blast also damaged several nearby homes and shops.

A Taliban spokesman, Ahsanullah Ahsan, claimed responsibility for the attack by phone from an undisclosed location.

“We will continue our attacks against security forces,” Ahsan told The Associated Press.

On Wednesday, a roadside bomb struck a police patrol in Hangu, wounding six officers.

Hangu is located close to Pakistan’s troubled tribal region, where Taliban and al-Qaeda fighters have flourished.

- AP