Faisal Shehzad, the district police officer in Mardan, said officers prevented a bigger tragedy by opening fire on the bomber after he threw the grenade.
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Six lawyers and two policemen were among the dead.
Victims include lawyers, police personnel and civilians, according to rescue officers.
Rescue official Haris Habib said: “So far we recovered 12 bodies of the lawyers, police personnel and civilians”. A state of emergency has been declared at local hospitals and security has been tightened in all adjoining areas.
Security in Pakistan has improved in recent years but extremist groups continue to stage major attacks.
In March, a bomber targeted a crowded public park in Lahore and killed more than 70 people, wounding about 200, many of them children. JuA had also claimed responsibility for that bombing.
Earlier, on Friday morning, the terrorists attacked a Christian Colony located on the outskirts of Peshawar in Pakistan leading to the death of one civilian.
Soldiers backed by army helicopters rushed to spot where they exchanged gunfire with terrorists.
Pakistan’s army chief Gen. Raheel Sharif praised security forces for foiling the attack.
Speaking also, the president of the Mardan Bar Association, Amir Hussain, said he was in a room nearby when the bomb detonated.
The attack comes in the wake of Bajwa’s speech about the progress of the military against terrorists in Pakistan’s northwestern region in Operation Zarb-i-Azb.
Local sources, though, told Al Jazeera that at least one civilian was killed and several wounded in the attack.
At least 18 people were killed on Friday in two separate terror attacks in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, reports said.
The colony is situated in the jurisdiction of the Mathra police station, outside the military cantonment.
No group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack.
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The attacks were a “horrific reminder that Pakistan’s authorities must do more to ensure vulnerable groups are protected”, Patel said. “COAS appreciated army, Frontier Corps and police for prompt and effective response and defeating the terrorists attempt”, Army spokesperson Lt General Asim Bajwa said.
