(VOVworld) – A suicide bomber attacked a government office in northwestern Pakistan on Tuesday, killing at least 23 people and wounding more than 70, officials said. A Pakistani Taliban faction claimed responsibility for the attack on a branch of the National Database and Registration Authority, which issues government ID cards, in the city of Mardan. The Pakistan Taliban faction Jamaat ur Ahrar is fighting to overthrow the government and establish hardline Islamist rule. It once controlled swathes of remote territory in the northwest, but a series of military offensives that began in 2009 has pushed them back into a few pockets. There have been fewer militant attacks in towns and cities over the past year or so, compared with several years ago, but the Taliban remains a potent threat.