Peshawar, Auguat 12:

A roadside bomb hit a Pakistan air force truck in a northwestern city today, killing as many as 14 people including a five-year-old girl in the latest violence in the volatile region.

The blast hit the vehicle on a bridge on the outskirts of Peshawar, provincial police chief Malik Naveed Khan said. The truck was traveling between the city and the nearby air force base in Badaber.

Interior Ministry chief Rehman Malik said Al Qaeda-linked militants were likely behind the attack. The powerful explosion tore a large hole in the bridge, reducing the Mazda truck to a smoldering wreck. The site was littered with debris, blood and also the mangled wreckage of a motorcycle.

Jehangir Khan, another police officer, said seven air force personnel and five civilians were killed in the bombing. Fourteen other people were injured, he said.A five-year-old girl in a nearby vehicle was among the dead, said Nisar Khan, a Peshawar police officer. He said police were trying to trace relatives of the girl.