PESHAWAR: A suicide bomber wearing a vest packed with steel pellets attacked Pakistan’s flashpoint city of Peshawar today, killing five people in the second such strike in days.

Attacks are escalating in the metropolis of 2.5 million people on the edge of Pakistan’s northwest tribal belt on the Afghan border, an area Washington brands the most dangerous place on earth and the chief sanctuary of Al-Qaeda.

The attack occurred at a security checkpoint in one of Peshawar’s busiest areas in an army cantonment outside a government office and a church, where Pakistan’s Christian minority were preparing to celebrate Christmas.

Pakistan has stepped up security during the holy Muslim month of Muharram, ahead of the Shiite mourning period of Ashura, and one of Peshawar’s largest Shiite mosques was also close to the bomb site.

“I was on my bicycle and just passed the checkpoint when I heard a deafening blast. It felt like somebody injected fire in my back. I fell to the ground,” said fruit seller Alam Khan, whose back was pierced by flying

shrapnel.

“I saw smoke and dust. I wanted to help the injured but was bleeding myself and couldn’t move,” he added.

Officials said five people were killed, including a policeman and a woman, with 14 wounded, but said the bomber’s target was not immediately clear, praising police for “intercepting” the bomber at the checkpoint.

Militant attacks have killed more than 2,700 people since July 2007 and Washington is pressuring Pakistan to do more to crack down on Al-Qaeda and stop insurgents crossing the border to attack Western troops in Afghanistan.

The explosion badly damaged three private vehicles and left police caps and helmets littering the ground, next to a police badge

ripped from a uniform by the force of the blast, said an AFP reporter.

“There were several targets,” said Sahibzada Mohammad Anis, the top city administration official.

“It could have been a Pakistan International Airlines building or a Shiite mosque. There are also several shopping malls in this area,” he said.