Twin suicide bombings kill at least 20 in Pakistan

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RAWALPINDI, Pakistan, Nov 24 (AFP): Two suicide car bombings killed at least 20 people Saturday in near simultaneous attacks on Pakistani security forces in the garrison city of Rawalpindi, security officials said.
The attacks came amid raging political turmoil in the country three weeks after military ruler President Pervez Musharraf imposed a state of emergency citing growing Islamic militancy and an interfering judiciary.
Military spokesman Major General Waheed Arshad said both attacks were car bombs, one targeting a bus carrying security forces personnel and the other a checkpost outside army headquarters.
He said at least 15 people were confirmed dead in the bus attack and three security officers were critically wounded at the checkpost.
However, security sources told the news agency that the toll was higher, with at least 19 dead on the bus so far and one at the checkpoint.
Witnesses said the charred hulk of a burned-out bus could be seen parked inside the gates of a military spy agency, with dozens of ambulances lined up around.
The area was cordoned off and police and security forces were not allowing anyone near.
Witnesses and police said the bus was entering a military compound when it was rammed by the explosives-laden car.
Rawalpindi, which is near the capital Islamabad, is where Musharraf has his army offices.
Musharraf has responded to international pressure to end the emergency by saying it will be scrapped when the law and order situation is under control.
Security forces have been targeted in a wave of attacks since storming the Al- Qaeda-linked Red Mosque in Islamabad in July. Most have been suicide bombs that have killed more than 450people.
In upholding the emergency, the court -- now stacked with loyal judges -- virtually repeated Musharraf's words at the time: that terror attacks, suicide bombings and kidnappings had destabilised the country and the government was 'paralysed' in its response by the 'judicial activism' of senior judges.
In written rulings, the Supreme Court also urged him to lift emergency rule 'at the earliest' but gave no timeframe.
International anger at the state of emergency however saw Pakistan earlier this week suspended from the 53-nation Commonwealth club of nations.
Attacks blamed on Islamic militants have killed a record number of people this year, according to figures based on government data which estimate tolls of at least 687 dead and more than 2,000 wounded, including Saturday.
Of the 160 incidents recorded in 2007 so far, 46 have been suicide attacks, also a record in Pakistan's history.
Meanwhile, exiled former prime minister Nawaz Sharif will return to Pakistan from Saudi Arabia Sunday, a top aide told the news agency, two months after his last attempt ended with his deportation hours later.
"Mian Nawaz Sharif will land at the airport in (the eastern city of) Lahore at 4:00pm (1200 GMT) Sunday," Raja Zafar-ul Haq, senior leader of Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League-N party, said.
He will be accompanied by his wife Kulsoom Nawaz and younger brother Shahbaz Sharif, Haq said.