Bomb attack in north-west Pakistan kills three policemen

Islamabad - Suspected Islamic militants killed three policemen Friday in north-west Pakistan by targeting their vehicle with a remote-control bomb, a police official said. The early morning attack in the Dera Ismail Khan district of the volatile North-West Frontier Province (NWFP), where Islamic militancy is rife, also injured two officers, said Hamza Masud, the district police chief. He said the area's deputy police superintendent, Javed Iqbal, was among those killed. "He was leaving for the office from his residence when suspected militants targeted his vehicle with a remote control roadside bomb," Masud said. "The vehicle was completely destroyed."Dera Ismail Khan lies close to Pakistan's lawless tribal areas, from where Taliban, al-Qaeda and other armed militant groups frequently target security forces across the province as well as other parts of the country with suicide bombers and roadside bombs. Meanwhile, a British-based non-governmental organization has resumed work in Pakistan following an attack Monday by armed men on its offices in the NWFP that killed four local staff. Plan International, which works to help children in developing nations, reopened its offices in Islamabad and Punjab province, but continued a suspension on work in the NWFP's Mansehra district until an investigation into the attack was completed, a statement released Friday said. Several men armed with rifles attacked the Mansehra office without warning on Monday afternoon, setting off explosive devices that burned the building to the ground. The motive in the attack remained unclear, the statement said.