Six family members have been killed after a hand-grenade exploded in a pick-up truck in Pakistan's northwest border region with Afghanistan.
Both parents and four of their children were killed and four other siblings were wounded in the blast near the village of Asar Madakhel, about 45kms west of Miranshah, the main town of the restive North Waziristan tribal district late on Saturday.
The grenade exploded in a pick-up truck transporting passengers from the village of Lawara Mandi to Miranshah, but it was not known whether the parents had been carrying the grenade or if it had been planted, officials said.
"I saw the bodies of a husband, wife and their four children, and also four injured at the hospital," Niaz Gul, a local administration official, said.
"It is not clear how the grenade exploded," he said, but added that it is not uncommon for tribesmen to carry guns and hand grenades.
Children killed
Mir Aslam Khan, a tribesman injured in the blast, confirmed that some of the passengers were armed.
"We were travelling and suddenly there was blast," he said.
The deaths came after 12 children were killed after a bomb planted in a football exploded earlier on Saturday in Lower Dir, 260km east of Miranshah.
The area is in the Malakand division of North West Frontier Province (NWFP).
PHOTO CAPTION
Map of Pakistan locating North Waziristan
Al-Jazeera