PESHAWAR, Pakistan, Nov 24, (AP): Two suicide bombers attacked the headquarters of a security force in northwestern Pakistan on Monday morning, killing at least three officers and wounding 11 others, police and rescue officials said. The attack took place in Peshawar, the capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province bordering Afghanistan, when security forces were preparing for the morning parade at the sprawling facility located in the heart of the city, said Peshawar Police Chief Saeed Ahmad.

He said one attacker detonated his explosives at the main gate of the provincial headquarters of the Federal Constabulary, while the second bomber was shot and killed by officers near the parking area. According to Ahmad, about 150 security personnel were on open ground inside the headquarters for morning parade drills when the attack took place.

"The terrorists involved in today's attack were on foot and failed to reach the parade area and a timely response by our forces prevented a much larger tragedy,” he told The Associated Press. He said police had completed the clearance operation and authorities had collected samples of the body parts of the attackers for DNA tests.

He added police are still investigating to determine the identity and nationality of the attackers without giving further details. Asim Khan, a spokesperson at the government-run Lady Reading Hospital said all 11 persons wounded in the Peshawar attack were listed in stable condition. Pakistan's President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, in separate statements, condemned the attack in Peshawar, with Zardari calling it a "cowardly act by foreign-backed terrorists,” and Sharif saying the swift response of security forces prevented a larger tragedy.

They offered condolences to the families of the victims. No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack. However, the Pakistani Taliban, also known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, have been blamed for similar previous assaults in the country, which has witnessed a surge in militant attacks. The TPP is separate from but allied with the Afghan Taliban that leads Afghanistan.

The latest attack came less than two weeks after a suicide bomber struck outside a court in Pakistan’s capital Islamabad, detonating his explosives next to a police car and killing 12 people. The attacks have strained ties between Islamabad and Afghanistan’s Taliban government, with Pakistan accusing the Pakistani Taliban of operating freely inside Afghanistan since the Taliban takeover in 2021.