Blast rocks Pakistani courthouse, kills 16

Peshawar: A suicide bomber has killed 16 people outside a courthouse in northwestern Pakistan, the latest attack in an onslaught by Islamist militants fighting back against an army offensive in the nearby Afghan border region.

The bombing Thursday was the sixth in less than two weeks in and around Peshawar, the largest city in the northwest. The attacks have killed more than 80 people.

Government official Sahibzada Anees said police officers were searching a man at the gate of the city's lower court when he detonated explosives on his body.

Dr. Saib Gul said 16 bodies had been taken to the city's Lady Reading Hospital and that 26 people had been wounded. At least three of the dead were police.