An explosives-filled car slammed into a U.S. Consulate vehicle in the Pakistani city of Peshawar, killing two Pakistanis and wounding two U.S. consular staff

The suicide attack did not kill any U.S. Consulate employees, State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said in a statement.

She said the U.S. authorities were “seeking further information about other victims of this heinous act.”

Nuland’s statement followed an assertion by local Information Minister Iftikhar Hussain that two Americans had died in the blast.

But Umar Riaz, a senior Peshawar police official, said that the U.S. consular security detail surrounded the vehicle, which was severely damaged in the attack, and took away the individuals who’d been traveling in it.

As a result, Riaz said he had no information about the people who were in the consular vehicle.

Two Pakistanis were killed and 25 others were wounded by the explosion, Pakistani police and health officials said.

The attack took place in an area of the city where several international agencies have offices. In addition to the U.S. Consulate, the U.N. refugee agency, UNHCR, is also located in the area.

Peshawar is about 190 kilometers (120 miles) from the country’s capital, Islamabad.

In May 2011, a remote-controlled car bomb targeted a convoy of U.S. Consulate vehicles in Peshawar, killing one and wounding 11. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack.

In April 2010, three explosions went off in rapid succession near the consulate.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, of which Peshawar is the capital, is rife with Islamic extremists and has been the site of recent clashes between Pakistani security forces and militants.

It was formerly known as the North West Frontier Province, a name assigned during the British colonial rule. The ruling party changed the name to reflect the province’s majority Pashtun population.

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