Explosion kills seven in Pakistani city
Wednesday, 31 October 2007
RAWALPINDI, Oct 30 (Agencies): A suicide attacker blew himself up near the office of Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf on Tuesday, killing seven people and injuring several more, officials saidMeanwhile, more than 1,000 supporters of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharifmarched on Pakistan's Supreme Court in Islamabad as it prepared to hear arguments challenging his deportation last month by the Musharraf government.
The blast occurred at a police checkpoint in the central city of Rawalpindi, just a quarter-mile from Army House, the headquarters of the Pakistan army. Musharraf, a key US ally who is also army chief, was safely inside his office at the time, his spokesman Rashid Qureshi said.
The attack could further heighten fears for Pakistan's stability just as it prepares for crucial parliamentary elections and faces a growing threat from Islamic militants.
Mohammed Saeed, a city police official, said a lone suicide bomber walked up to the checkpoint on a main road and detonated explosives hidden under his clothes.
Interior Minister Aftab Khan Sherpao said two police officers and three civilians were killed and 11 other people, including five police, were wounded.
Those killed or injured including women and children who were passing in a white minibus. Television footage showed schoolbags abandoned on the seats of the vehicle, whose windows were blown out by the blast.
An Associated Press photographer saw army investigators collecting body parts and evidence at the scene.
While there was no claim of responsibility, Pakistan has been rocked by a string of suicide attacks mostly blamed on Islamic extremists battling security forces near the Afghan border.
A suicide bombing on the homecoming parade of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto on Oct. 18 in the southern city of Karachi killed more than 140 people. In Rawalpindi, a garrison city just south of the capital, two blasts on Sept. 4 killed 25 people and wounded more than 60, many of them on a Defense Ministry bus.
Last week, Pakistan deployed paramilitary forces to tackle militant supporters of a pro-Taliban cleric in the northwestern district of Swat. Officials say four days of violence in the once-peaceful mountain region has left around 100 people dead, most of them militants.
The violence comes at a politically turbulent time in the country, with former premiers Sharif and Bhutto both vying for a role in Pakistan's governance.
Sharif, whom Musharraf ousted in a 1999 coup, attempted to return from a seven-year exile on Sept. 10, but was deported on arrival back to Saudi Arabia despite a Supreme Court ruling that he be allowed back.
The blast occurred at a police checkpoint in the central city of Rawalpindi, just a quarter-mile from Army House, the headquarters of the Pakistan army. Musharraf, a key US ally who is also army chief, was safely inside his office at the time, his spokesman Rashid Qureshi said.
The attack could further heighten fears for Pakistan's stability just as it prepares for crucial parliamentary elections and faces a growing threat from Islamic militants.
Mohammed Saeed, a city police official, said a lone suicide bomber walked up to the checkpoint on a main road and detonated explosives hidden under his clothes.
Interior Minister Aftab Khan Sherpao said two police officers and three civilians were killed and 11 other people, including five police, were wounded.
Those killed or injured including women and children who were passing in a white minibus. Television footage showed schoolbags abandoned on the seats of the vehicle, whose windows were blown out by the blast.
An Associated Press photographer saw army investigators collecting body parts and evidence at the scene.
While there was no claim of responsibility, Pakistan has been rocked by a string of suicide attacks mostly blamed on Islamic extremists battling security forces near the Afghan border.
A suicide bombing on the homecoming parade of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto on Oct. 18 in the southern city of Karachi killed more than 140 people. In Rawalpindi, a garrison city just south of the capital, two blasts on Sept. 4 killed 25 people and wounded more than 60, many of them on a Defense Ministry bus.
Last week, Pakistan deployed paramilitary forces to tackle militant supporters of a pro-Taliban cleric in the northwestern district of Swat. Officials say four days of violence in the once-peaceful mountain region has left around 100 people dead, most of them militants.
The violence comes at a politically turbulent time in the country, with former premiers Sharif and Bhutto both vying for a role in Pakistan's governance.
Sharif, whom Musharraf ousted in a 1999 coup, attempted to return from a seven-year exile on Sept. 10, but was deported on arrival back to Saudi Arabia despite a Supreme Court ruling that he be allowed back.