Northwest Pakistan hit with two attacks in Peshawar and Mardan

Islamic Extremism

An injured person who survived militant attack, rests at a local hospital in Mardan, Pakistan, Friday, Sept. 2, 2016. (AP Photo/Mohammad Sajjad)

Northwest Pakistan was rocked by two attacks just hours apart. On Friday four gunmen wearing suicide vests stormed a Christian colony near the town of Peshawar triggering a shoot-out that killed four attackers and one Christian, authorities said.

Just a few hours earlier, at least 12 people were killed and more than 50 wounded after a suicide bomber threw a grenade at a district court in Mardan, about 40 kilometers (25 miles) from Peshawar

Ahsanullah Ahsan, a spokesman for Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, a breakaway Taliban faction, claimed responsibility for the attack on the Christian colony. No group immediately claimed responsibility for the earlier attack in Mardan.

In Mardan, at least 54 were wounded after a the bomber threw the grenade and detonated his explosives, according to government and rescue authorities.

Pakistani volunteers carry an injured person arrived from Mardan, at a local hospital in Peshawar, Pakistan, Friday, Sept. 2, 2016. (AP Photo/Mohammad Sajjad)

Pakistani volunteers carry an injured person arrived from Mardan, at a local hospital in Peshawar, Pakistan, Friday, Sept. 2, 2016. (AP Photo/Mohammad Sajjad)

A local police official, Ijaz Ahmed Khan, said the attacker apparently wanted to target a gathering of lawyers at the bar room but was thwarted by police. When a policeman asked the attacker to stop, the attacker threw a grenade at him, killing the officer, Khan said.

A second policeman then opened fire at the attacker, who then detonated his explosives.

In the later attack at the colony, three security officials and two civilian guards were also wounded.

Army spokesman Lieutenant General Asim Saleem Bajwa said in a statement that the attack was quickly repulsed and that security forces were searching for any accomplices.

ocal police official Shaukat Khan said one of the attackers first went into a church, but no one was there at the time. He said the attackers killed one Christian in the neighborhood.

It was not immediately clear if any of the suicide bombers had detonated their explosives.

Story compiled from Associated Press reports.