A suicide blast took place near security forces’ vehicle in Peshawar’s Hayatabad area, police said on Tuesday. As per reports, at least 10 people including seven security men were injured in the explosion. Superintendent of Police (SP) Cantt Waqas Rafiq confirmed the suicide blast saying that the explosion took place near Frontier Corps (FC) vehicle. The target of the terrorists were officials of the security forces, police added. It was an attack on a convoy of the paramilitary force that was moving through Hayatabad’s phase 6, Cantt SP Waqas Rafi said while speaking to the media near the site of the blast soon after the incident. Footage broadcast on television from the site showed a crowd of people on the road where the blast purportedly took place. The charred remains of a vehicle could be seen in the distance. Later, Peshawar SSP (Operations) Haroon Rasheed said in a statement that an “explosive-laden vehicle” was used in the attack. “We are further investigating the matter,” the statement said, adding that a search operation was under way. In his media talk, SP Rafi also said that police were “looking into the matter and collecting further details. The area has been cordoned off”. “We will get to the bottom of this matter, and the culprits involved in the incident will be exposed,” he pledged. He earlier said the incident seemed to be a “suicide blast”, adding that a bomb disposal squad was collecting evidence from the scene to ascertain the nature of the incident. Both officials confirmed that six people had been injured in the blast, with the SSP saying that all of them were FC personnel. Meanwhile, medical director of the Hayatabad Medical Complex, professor Shehzad Akbar Khan, confirmed to Reuters that the hospital received two people who were wounded by the explosion and that both were in stable condition. He said the remaining injured were taken to Combined Military Hospital. Tehreek-i-Jihad Pakistan, a newly found faction of the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan, has claimed responsibility for the attack. Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari was among the first ones from the government to condemn the attack, saying that terrorists and planners of such incidents could not “escape the grip of law”. He prayed for the quick recovery of the injured, a statement issued by the PPP said. Bilawal’s father and former president, Asif Ali Zardari, gave a similar message in his condemnation posted on the PPP’s Twitter. Former premier and PTI chief Imran Khan also condemned the attack and prayed for the quick recovery of the injured. “It is worrying how terror attacks are increasing in KP and Balochistan. Our security forces are almost on a daily basis being targeted and giving sacrifices,” he said on Twitter.