ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) — Gunmen opened fire on a U.S. consulate vehicle carrying an American in Pakistan’s militancy-plagued northwest Tuesday morning, but there were no casualties, police said.

The attack in Peshawar came a day after the government announced a ban on Pakistan’s Taliban movement in a sign it is toughening its stance against militancy. It also came on the heels of a breakup of the ruling coalition, a fracture that could concentrate more power into the hands of a party that says it is committed to supporting the U.S. war on terror.

The vehicle itself sustained minor damage, said Mohammad Nabi, an official at the police control room in Peshawar, the capital of the North West Frontier Province. He said the vehicle was carrying an American — whom he would not identify — but that driver managed to reverse it and reach safety.

Militant activity is rampant in parts of northwest Pakistan, though mainly in tribal regions where U.S. officials say insurgents have found safe havens from which to plan attacks on American and NATO forces across the border in Afghanistan.

Peshawar, a bustling, dusty city, has not been immune, and concerns about militant activity in and around it prompted the government to stage a paramilitary offensive in neighboring Khyber tribal region earlier this year.

The Pakistani Taliban have claimed responsibility for a string of suicide attacks in recent days — including one that killed 67 people at a weapons manufacturing plant — calling them revenge for ongoing military offensives in the Bajur tribal region and the Swat Valley area.

On Monday, the ruling coalition that just a week before drove U.S. ally Pervez Musharraf from the presidency broke apart, throwing Pakistan into more political turmoil just as the battle against militants is escalating.

The main ruling Pakistan People’s Party is expected to cobble together a new coalition now that its main junior partner has quit, avoiding the need for another general election.

The party, long led by slain ex-Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, moved almost immediately to calm U.S. fears that the government is paying too little attention to extremism, banning the Taliban group and demanding they surrender their arms.