A suicide bomber blew himself up on Sunday outside the home of a local politician in Pakistan's northwest Peshawar city, killing ten people, a local official said.

The bomber struck outside the home of local mayor Abdul Malik on the outskirts of the city troubled by Islamist militancy. Malik, one of a number of city mayors, has raised a local militia against Taliban rebels.

Senior police official Mohammad Alim Shinwari told AFP that Malik was "seriously wounded" in the attack.

Pakistan has been hit by a wave of suicide blasts since early October, blamed on Taliban militants avenging both a fierce offensive against them in the northwest and the killing of their leader Baitullah Mehsud.

AFP

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