A suicide car bombing at a checkpoint in Pakistan's capital of Islamabad on Friday killed one police officer and injured several others, police and the interior ministry said.
"Our initial information says that there was a man and a woman in the car," Islamabad operations police chief, Sohail Zafar, told reporters. The car did not stop at the checkpoint when police tried to halt it, he said.
"As they chased it, the people inside the car blew it up. It was a suicide blast."
Four police and two civilians were injured, he said.
The car was packed with explosives and headed for a high-value target in the capital, the interior ministry said in a statement, giving no further details, reports Reuters.
"Had the car reached its target, it would have caused heavy losses," Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah told Geo News TV.
The capital was on high alert due to threats of such an attack and a big tragedy was averted with timely intervention, the minister said.
The bombing took place near police headquarters on the main road that leads to government buildings housing the country's parliament and high offices.
Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility in a text message sent to a Reuters reporter.
The militants known as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), an umbrella group of Sunni Islamist and sectarian groups, have ramped up attacks since calling off a ceasefire with the government last month.
Afghan Taliban had brokered the ceasefire.
The bombing came two days after a Pakistani military operation killed 25 TTP militants after a standoff at a counter-terrorism facility.
TTP militants have been waging a campaign of bombings and suicide attacks for over a decade to overthrow the government and run the country under a harsh brand of Islamic law.
