The bombings brought to eight the number of attacks in less than two weeks in and around Peshawar, the largest city in the northwest and the main gateway to the insurgent-infested frontier region. The attacks have killed more than 80 people.

Just after midnight, a remote-controlled bomb destroyed a police vehicle in the city Friday, killing two officers and wounding four others, the city police chief said.

On Thursday, a man who arrived by taxi was being searched by police officers at the gate of the city’s lower court when he detonated explosives, a government official said.

The army launched its offensive against the Pakistani Taliban in South Waziristan in mid-October. It has retaken many towns in the region, but the insurgents say they avoided fighting and will now begin a guerrilla campaign.

Earlier Thursday, missiles fired from a suspected U.S. unmanned aircraft killed three suspected insurgents in Shana Khuwara village in North Waziristan, another region close to the Afghan border where al-Qaeda and the Taliban hold sway.

It was the third suspected drone strike since the South Waziristan offensive began. The pace of airstrikes has slowed since then, possibly to avoid the perception that the United States is aiding the Pakistani army with the attacks. Anti-American sentiment is pervasive throughout the country.

– Associated Press

COLOMBIA