Three killed in Upper Dir van blast

DIR: A roadside bomb ripped through a pick-up truck in Upper Dir area on Saturday killing three people inside, officials said.

The improvised explosive device "was detonated using a remote controlled device" near the town of Dhog Darra in Upper Dir district, regional police chief Ehsanullah Khan said.

Khan added that three people were killed and seven wounded in the attack, two of whom were in critical condition.

The dead included the driver of the vehicle and two young men.

"It was a militant act aimed at creating fear among the people in the area," Khan said.

Dhog Darra is considered the stronghold of an anti-Taliban militia set up by local people in Upper Dir district.

There were no immediate claims of responsibility for the attack, but an intelligence official in Upper Dir told the attackers were followers of Maulana Fazlullah, a radical cleric from the Swat valley, who fled into Afghanistan following a military offensive.