At least eight people, including five policemen, have been killed in a car bomb blast in Pakistan's northwest city of Peshawar, officials say.
The blast on Saturday occurred as the police went to check a suspicious car parked by the side of a road.
"An anonymous caller alerted the police that a suspicious car was parked on a roadside with a dead man's body inside, but it was a trap," Ghulam Mohammad, a local officer, said.
"When our officers approached the white car parked by the road, it blew up."
Police officials said that it could have been a suicide bomb attack.
'Unusual attack'
"Five policemen and two paramilitary soldiers were killed in the bomb blast," Gran Ullah, the local police station chief, said.
"A pedestrian also died in the blast," he added.
Al Jazeera's Kamal Hyder, reporting from Islamabad, said: "This is a very unusual and deadly attack. A car was discovered on the side of a road with a dead body of a man inside, the police then rushed to investigate.
"We are told that as they were closing in on the vehicle, it was detonated by what appears to be remote-controlled device. Police are still investigating the incident," he said.
Violence in Pakistan has surged in recent months amid a wave of attacks.
There have been regular battles with armed fighters in the north-west, particularly in the Swat valley and in the tribal region of Bajaur.
PHOTO CAPTION
File photo shows Pakistani police and Air Force personnel inspecting the wreckage of a car bomb blast site in Peshawar.
Al-Jazeera