PESHAWAR Five policemen were killed and 11 others including two women, one child and eight police personnel got injured when a suicide bomber detonated his car laden with explosives in front of Pir Bala Police Check Post on the outskirts of the Provincial Capital on Wednesday morning. Sources informed that explosives-laden car was parked outside the check post and it exploded when the driver of the car came outside. The blast was so severe in its intensity that it was heard across the city. The blast not only damaged the police check post but it also destroyed nearby houses and a portion of a mosque. Soon after the blast, rescuers and Edhi ambulances rushed toward the site and contributed in the rescue activities. The injured were shifted to Lady Reading Hospital, Peshawar. Police and officials of the secret agencies cordoned off the area and started investigation. An officer of bomb disposal squad told TheNation that around 180 kilograms explosive material was used in the attack. Peshawar police chief Liaquat Ali said the attacker was apparently trying to make his way into the city but decided to set off his explosives when he was stopped, as a large quantity of explosive material was used in the attack. He said that police personnel were playing with their lives and defending the citizens. Meanwhile, the Governor and the Chief Minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa strongly condemned the attack. They said that terrorist elements were bent upon killing and terrorising innocent people through their subversive activities. Reuters adds: A Taliban spokesman called Reuters by telephone and claimed responsibility for the attack. Its a reaction to the operations carried out by the army from Khyber to Waziristan, the spokesman Azam Tariq said, referring to South Waziristan, a militant bastion where the military launched a major offensive in October. More attacks will be coming, he said. The policemen were on their routine duty when the bomber driving the car from the tribal area detonated explosives near the check post, police official Najmul Hasan told Reuters. The blast on the outskirts of the main northwestern city of Peshawar is the latest in a string of attacks mounted by the militants. Peshawar is close to the Mohmand and Khyber Agencies. The security forces have launched major offensives in the northwest over the past year, clearing out some insurgent strongholds. But the militants have shown resilience and carried out a wave of suicide and bomb attacks across the country, mainly in the northwest, killing hundreds of people. Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Amir Haider Khan Hoti said the Government was determined to weed out militancy, but it would take time. This menace will end one day but not in a single day, he told reporters in Peshawar after funeral prayers for the policemen killed in the blast. It will take at least two to three years to eliminate this menace.