Three killed in latest bomb blast in Peshawar

PESHAWAR (Reuters) - Three policemen were killed and six wounded when their vehicle hit a roadside bomb in Pakistan's volatile city of Peshawar early on Friday, police said.

Peshawar, capital of the North West Frontier Province bordering Afghanistan, has borne the brunt of the attacks perpetrated by Taliban militants in recent weeks in retaliation for a military offensive in their South Waziristan bastion.

The attack on a police patrol, shortly after midnight, came hours after a suicide bomber blew himself up outside a court building in the city, killing at least 18 people.

Eight suicide bomb attacks in Pakistan this month alone -- six of them in Peshawar -- have killed 110 people.

"It was a remote-controlled bomb. Two policemen died on the spot, while a third has succumbed to his injuries a short while ago," police official Mohammad Haroon told Reuters.

The army went on the offensive in South Waziristan on the Afghan border on Oct. 17, aiming to root out militants who escalated their war against the security forces in 2007.

The militants have responded with intensified attacks in towns and cities.

The United States, weighing options for how to stem an intensifying insurgency in Afghanistan, has welcomed the offensive but is keen to see Pakistan tackle Afghan Taliban factions based in lawless enclaves along the border.

Despite the barrage of bombs, the government says it is determined to defeat the militants with the help of its allies.

(For more Reuters coverage of Afghanistan and Pakistan, see: here)

(Additional reporting by Zeeshan Haider)