Suicide attack kills 13 in Pakistan's northwest

Bomber strikes outside court in the northwest, killing at least 13 people including two women and a child.

A volunteer surveys the blood-soaked pavement after the deadly suicide attack in Charsadda

Two women and a child are women at least 13 people killed in a suicide bombing in northwest Pakistan, described as a "revenge attack" by a splinter group of the Pakistani Taliban.
The bomber blew himself up outside a district court in the Shabqadar market area of Charsadda in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province, police said.
Police said 26 people were also wounded in the explosion, with six in a critical condition.

Charsadda in northwest Pakistan

The blast took place about 30km from the region's main city of Peshawar.
Inspector Ali Jan Khan, from the Shabqadar police station, said the attacker was attempting to enter the court.

"The suicide bomber was interrupted by two security personnel, which prompted him to blow himself up outside the court," he told Al Jazeera.
Asfandyar Khan, a hospital worker, told Al Jazeera that two women and a female child were among the dead.
Medical teams were dispatched to the scene, but the death toll is expected to rise, he said.
A splinter group of the Tehreek-e-Taliban (TTP) claimed responsibility for the suicide bombing, saying it was a revenge attack for the recent execution of a former Pakistani commando who shot dead Punjab province's governor in 2011.
"The Pakistani courts give decisions against the laws revealed by Allah, and convict and hang innocent people," Ehsanullah Ehsan, TTP spokesman, said in an emailed statement.