KHAR: A teenage suicide bomber targeted police in Bajaur district on Friday, killing at least 22 people and wounding dozens in the tribal area near the Afghan border, officials said.

Among the dead were the local chief and deputy of a tribal police force recruited by the government to help defeat the Taliban in the northwest.

The bomber, who intelligence officials said was aged 14 to 16, detonated explosives strapped to his chest in Khar, the main town of Bajaur district.

“22 people, including 5 policemen, were killed and 46 others were wounded. Some shops and a restaurant were destroyed,” Islam Zeb, the top official and administrative head of Bajaur tribal district, told AFP.

Officials had earlier put the death toll at 16.

It was the third bomb attack in two days in Bajaur, after twin blasts killed five people — including pro-government elders and security personnel – on Thursday.