At least 25 people were killed in a suicide car blast that ripped through a police station Wednesday evening near the city of Bannu in northwest Pakistan, sources told Xinhua.

In a telephone interview with Xinhua, the sources who asked to remain anonymous said that 17 Frontier Corps personnel and eight civilians were killed in the blast that took place at about 06:00 p.m. local time when an explosive-laden car rammed into a police station located 14 km away from Bannu.

According to the sources and local media reports, the blast has completely destroyed the police station and damaged a mosque and a primary school nearby. Many people were said to be near the site when the explosion went off.

All the injured people have been rushed to a district hospital in the city. Local media quoted hospital sources as saying that about 17 people were injured in the blast.

Details about the identity of the suicide bomber are not immediately available.

Shortly after the blast, Pakistan Taliban (TTP) has claimed the responsibility for the blast.

This is the third blast that took place in Pakistan on Wednesday. Prior to this, at about 02:00 p.m. local time, two blasts occurred in Peshawar, a city northeast of Bannu in the country's northwest Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, leaving two women killed and seven others including three children injured.

The three blasts coincided with the visit paid by the U.S vice president Joe Biden to Pakistan, who arrived in Islamabad Wednesday for a one-day visit after wrapping up a brief tour in the neighboring country of Afghanistan.

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