A suspected suicide attack at a government office in north-west Pakistan has killed at least 22 people, police say. The bomb went off outside the National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra) office in the town of Mardan. A splinter faction of the Pakistani Taliban said it carried out the attack which left more than 30 others wounded.
The attack is one of the deadliest since last December’s massacre of 150 pupils and teachers in Peshawar. The bomber in Mardan reportedly arrived on a motorbike and blew himself up when stopped by a security guard outside the Nadra building. The office is usually crowded with people lining up to get ID cards. Police put the death toll at 22 so far. Most of the dead and wounded are civilians.