ISLAMABAD (AFP) - The Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for a suicide attack that killed at least one policeman Friday in Islamabad, the first such attack in the capital in years.

Islamabad has largely escaped sporadic attacks in the cities of Lahore and Karachi, as well as in the border regions near Afghanistan.

Police official Suhail Zafer Chata said that the police were chasing a taxi they suspected was being driven by a driver with a female passenger, and that the driver detonated an explosive device inside the car after being arrested.

"They were stopped and the man with long hair was asked to come out," Chata told AFP at the scene.

He added, "He got out, but quickly went back inside and pressed the button to detonate the car."

He pointed out that the fate of the passenger is not known, but it was confirmed that a policeman was killed and six people, including four policemen, were wounded.

The Pakistani Taliban later claimed responsibility for the blast, asserting that the attack "on the enemies of Islam" was in retaliation for the recent killing of a senior member.

The group, which is separate from the Afghan Taliban but espouses a similar hardline Islamic ideology, scrapped a ceasefire with the government in November.

Haji Mohammad Saeed, 60, a retired government official who lives in the neighborhood where the attack took place, said the authorities should end all negotiations with the Pakistani Taliban. "They are taking advantage of this dialogue and carrying out acts of violence," he added.

Pakistan has been suffering for some time from almost daily bombings across the country, but security has improved dramatically after a military crackdown that began in 2016.

Violence against security officials in the northwestern border regions with Afghanistan has escalated over the past year, blamed on militant groups linked to the Pakistani Taliban.

Earlier this week, Pakistani Defense Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif called for a new security operation against the Pakistani Taliban, after agents held in a police station overpowered their captors and held them hostage for three days.

"Terrorism is escalating again... There is an indirect effect of the situation in Afghanistan and this affects Pakistan. We have to launch this operation," he said.