A suicide bomber attacked a police chief outside his house in northwestern Pakistan on Friday, missing him but killing three other officers and five civilians, officials said.
The attack indicates the resilience of al-Qaida and Taliban-linked militants close to the Afghan border despite a bloody military offensive in the region that authorities say has killed 1,500 insurgents.
The suicide attacker, who was on foot, hit the first vehicle in a convoy as it emerged from the police chief's residence in the city of Mardan, killing eight people and wounding 15 others, said District Mayor Himayat Ali.
Police chief Akhtar Ali Shah told reporters that he didn't see the attacker but heard a large explosion at the main gate moments after he got into his vehicle.
"I was the target but such attacks cannot stop us from doing our duty," said Shah.
TV footage showed a badly damaged police pickup truck just outside the police chief's residence and rescue workers loading bloodied survivors into ambulances.
Militants in Pakistan have launched more than 90 suicide attacks on civilian, military and Western targets since July last year, killing nearly 1,200 people, according to military statistics.
Most of the attackers are believed to have trained in lawless northwest Pakistan, from where they are also alleged to carry out attacks on U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan.
The United States is urging Islamabad to do more to fight the militants, but in a sign of rising frustration it has launched a flurry of unilateral missile strikes on suspected Taliban and al-Qaida hide-outs in Pakistani territory.
Pakistan has protested the attacks as violations of its sovereignty and say the strikes, which officials say kill civilians as well as suspected militants, only fan extremism in the region.
