Blast near Pakistan army HQs kills 9

A suicide bomber blew himself up near Pakistan’s military headquarters on Monday, killing nine people a day after a Taliban bombing inside an army compound in the northwest of the country killed at least 20 troops, officials and militants said. The Sunday blast was one of the deadliest attacks to target the country’s forces as they battle insurgents in its volatile frontier. It was followed on Monday morning by the bombing in the city of Rawalpindi, next to the capital of Islamabad. Police official Sardar Zulfiqar said it was a suicide bombing and that some security personnel were believed to be among the dead. The blast in the northwest targeted a vehicle in a convoy about to leave a military base in the town of Bannu and drive west to the North Waziristan tribal area, police official Inyat Ali Khan said. Pakistan’s military said the blast wounded 30 troops. The Taliban claimed responsibility for Sunday’s attack. Bur there was no claim of responsibility for today’s blast which also wounded 15 people, according to AP.