Bombings kill 11 in Pakistan amid political feuds

FE Team | Published: March 08, 2009 00:00:00 | Updated: February 01, 2018 00:00:00

PESHAWAR, Mar 7 (AP): A bomb-laden car exploded Saturday in northwest Pakistan as police tried to pull a body from it, authorities said, killing seven police and a bystander as international fears grow over security and political stability in the nuclear-armed country. Al-Qaida, Taliban and linked militants have staged numerous attacks against security forces along Pakistan's northwest border with Afghanistan, but Saturday's appeared to be the first to use a body as a lure. It occurred in the Badaber area, where residents recently evicted militants with help from police, prompting threats of retaliation.

Separately, a roadside bomb struck a military convoy in the northwest town of Darra Adam Khel, killing three passers-by and wounding four troops, government official Asif Khan said. The explosions came days after gunmen attacked Sri Lanka's cricket team in eastern Pakistan and ahead of expected anti-government rallies later this month involving the main opposition party.

The turmoil is of great concern to US and other Western officials, who need Pakistan to focus on fighting militancy. Many militants are believed to use pockets of Pakistan's northwest as bases to plan attacks on American and NATO forces in Afghanistan.

British Foreign Secretary David Miliband Friday urged Pakistani politicians to stop feuding and focus on the threat from Islamist militants - the most direct appeal yet from the West regarding the country's political turmoil.

Miliband said it was "vital" that Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari and opposition leader Nawaz Sharif "unite against the mortal threat that Pakistan faces, which is a threat from its internal enemies."

On Saturday, officers were dispatched to Badaber, which lies on the outskirts of the main northwest city of Peshawar, after an unknown caller told them a body was in a parked car, according to Police Chief Rahim Shah.

"Police went there. They found the white car. They also saw a body inside, but when they were pulling it out, the car bomb went off," he said, calling the set-up a "new technique."