A suicide bomber from the Pakistani Taliban militant group attacked a van carrying judges in Peshawar on Wednesday, wounding several judges and killing the driver, police said. It was the region's second attack of the day in a new surge in militant violence. In the Mohmand agency area north of Peshawar, a suicide bomber blew himself up outside a government office, killing five people.

"A suicide bomber on a motor bike rammed into an official van in which some judges were travelling," senior superintendent of Peshawar police Sajjad Khan told journalists. Khan said three female judges and one male judge had been taken to a nearby hospital while the driver of the van had been killed. Earlier in the day private TV, citing Khan, said two people had died in the attack but that figure was later revised to one.

Mohammad Khurassani, spokesman for the Pakistani Taliban, said the group was behind the blast and threatened more attacks. "We would continue to target Pakistani judiciary and judges as they are helping imprison the mujahideen," a reference to the group's fighters. Hardline militant group Jamaat-ur-Ahrar, a faction of the Pakistani Taliban, claimed responsibility for the Mohmand blast.

Jamaat-ur-Ahrar said the Lahore attack was the beginning of a new campaign against the government, security forces, the judiciary and secular political parties.

Copyright Reuters, 2017