3rd bombing in 2 days rocks Peshawar

PESHAWAR,-- The third car bombing in two days rocked Peshawar, Pakistan, Saturday, killing about a dozen people at a police checkpoint, officials said.

Hospitals in the city said the death toll was at least 12, the Daily Times reported. At least 35 were injured, eight of them critically.

Deputy Police Superintendent Shafi Ullah said three women, three children and a police officer were among the dead, CNN reported.

Investigators said the bomber detonated about 120 pounds of explosives in his vehicle after a brief conversation with a police officer at the checkpoint. The blast destroyed several vehicles and a nearby compressed natural gas station..

Peshawar is the capital of the North West Frontier province and is the administrative center for the country's tribal areas. The city was political headquarters of anti-Soviet forces in Afghanistan during the struggle to drive the Soviets out in the 1980s.

Thirteen people were killed Friday in a suicide bombing of the regional headquarters of Inter Services Intelligence, the Pakistani intelligence agency. Another eight died in a suicide bombing of the police station in Bannu, near Peshawar