Suicide bombing kills six in Pakistan

By CNN's Zein Basravi

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (CNN) -- Two explosions have struck a small cafe in volatile northwestern Pakistan, killing six people, including two police officers, local police and an official said.

A paramedic treats a victim of a suicide blast at a hospital in Dera Ismail Khan on Sunday.

The attack happened Sunday evening in the town of Dera Ismail Khan in Pakistan's North West Frontier Province, a frequent scene of suicide attacks.

No one was killed in the first blast, which happened at a cafe near a local college, said Haji Abdul Rauf, the town's mayor.

Four residents and two police officers were killed and 20 others injured when a suicide bomber struck 10 minutes later, Rauf said.

The attackers were targeting police by attracting a crowd with the first blast, the mayor said.

A local journalist said two of the civilians killed were reporters who had arrived after the first explosion.

Pakistan's forces have been battling Taliban and al Qaeda militants in the North West Frontier Province and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas. Some of the Taliban militants conducting attacks in neighboring Afghanistan have been based in the North West Frontier Province and nearby tribal regions.

The resurgence of the Taliban has prompted U.S. commanders and the incoming Barack Obama administration to put more of a focus on confronting militants along the border.

The attack on Sunday came one week after a suicide car bomber -- apparently targeting people voting to fill a national assembly seat -- killed at least 37 people and wounded 16 others in the Bunair district of North West Frontier Province.

In November, a suicide bomber detonated his explosives in the midst of a funeral procession in Dera Ismail Khan, killing at least seven people and injuring 30 more, police said.

Days earlier, a suicide bomber struck a mosque during evening prayers in the Bajaur region of the North West Frontier Province, killing seven people.

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