Five people, including a tribal elder, were killed in car bomb blast near a police checkpoint in northwest Pakistan Monday, local TV channel reported.

Attacker rammed his explosive-laden vehicle into tribal elder Maulana Abdul Hakim's car on a road in Bannu in North West Frontier Province, as a result five people including Abdul Hakim were reportedly killed, according to the private TV Express.

Two guards of Abdul Hakim were among those killed and a passerby woman was injured, police said.

Abdul Hakim was a former Taliban commander but had joined a peace committee to support the government against the militants, sources said.

Police cordoned off the area after the blast. The dead bodies of the five people were transferred to a district hospital.

No group has claimed responsibility for the blast, but Taliban have targeted members of peace committee in the past.

Last week suspected Taliban shot dead seven members of the peace committee at Janikhel tribal region near Bannu. Officials say that nearly 400 elders have been killed in the tribal regions in targeted attacks since 2004.

(Xinhua News Agency September 28, 2009)