By RFE/RL's Radio Mashaal

Authorities in Pakistan say an explosion near a passing police patrol vehicle in the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province has killed five people and injured 21 others, including three police officers. No one immediately claimed responsibility for the blast in Dera Ismail Khan, in the Tank district. Some reports suggested the explosion came from a parked motorcycle. The number of violent incidents in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, near the Afghan border, increased dramatically over the summer. The result has been the highest death toll for security forces there in the past eight years, according to an independent Islamabad-based security center.