Update: Taleban suicide bomber kills 21 in Pakistan

Peshawar - The explosion ripped through the front entrance of a regional branch of the National Database and Registration Authority, which is responsible for issuing ID cards.

A Taleban suicide bomber on a motorcycle killed 21 people and wounded dozens on Tuesday after crashing into the main gate of a government office in northwest Pakistan, officials said.

The blast in the town of Mardan demonstrated the Pakistani Taleban's continued ability to stage deadly attacks, despite a major military offensive against its headquarters that analysts say has reduced its capacity.

The explosion ripped through the front entrance of a regional branch of the National Database and Registration Authority, which is responsible for issuing ID cards.

"It was a suicide bomber riding on a motorbike," district police chief Faisal Shahzad told AFP, putting the number of dead at 21.

"Apparently the target was the queue as there were around 400 people standing there," he said.

Ali Khan, a doctor at the government-run district headquarters hospital, confirmed the death toll and said 56 were injured, 20 of them critically.

"Most of the injured suffered shrapnel wounds," he said.

Television footage showed the collapsed front wall of the building and twisted metal debris strewn on the road in the town in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

Eyewitness Nasir Khan, a 29-year-old labourer who suffered a shrapnel injury to his right leg, told AFP: "I was standing in the queue waiting for my turn as I had gone to renew my identity card when I heard someone shouting Allahu Akbar (God is greatest) and then I fell to the ground.

"The air was filled with smoke and dust and I could not see anything.

"When the dust settled and I stood up, it looked as though someone had butchered the people in the line. There was only blood and flesh in the row where people were previously standing."

Ehsanullah Ehsan, spokesman for the hardline Jamaat-ul-Ahrar faction of the Tehreek-e-Taleban Pakistan (Pakistani Taleban), claimed responsibility.

"This office was attacked because it is an important institution of the infidel state of Pakistan," he said in an email, vowing further attacks.

• Pakistan