Suicide bombers hit a bus carrying intelligence agency employees and also targeted a checkpoint near the headquarters of the Pakistan army yesterday, killing up to 35 people, several officials said.
The two attackers struck in Rawalpindi, a garrison city just south of the capital, Islamabad. Two senior intelligence officials -- one of them at the scene -- said at least 35 people were killed. They asked for anonymity because of the sensitivity of their work.
The army said it could only confirm 15 killed in the attack on the bus, in addition to the suicide bomber. It said two security forces personnel were critically injured in the second attack, and the suicide bomber died.
"We suspect that pro-Taliban militants who are fighting security forces in our tribal areas are behind this attack," the intelligence official said, adding the injured and dead were being transported to hospitals.
In the first attack, an explosive laden Suzuki van rammed a bus carrying employees from the Inter-Services Intelligence agency. The other bomber hit an army checkpoint in another part of the city about 10km away, said Mohammed Afzal, a local police official. He provided no further details.
The intelligence agent at the scene said the destroyed bus was a 72-seater, but that it was badly overloaded and that more people were believed to be on board. The army said that only 50 people were riding on the bus.
After the blast, troops and police quickly cordoned off the area of the blast. They pushed back bystanders and snatched cameras and mobile phones from journalists and bystanders. Agents fanned out across the area, picking up metal bits of what appeared to be the suicide bomber's car.
Shoaib Abbasi, owner of the Oriel guesthouse across from the ISI compound, said that when he came out on the street after the blast the bus was burning fiercely.
"Firemen tried to open the emergency doors while they were dousing the interior, but I can't believe anyone inside survived because of the intensity of the fire," he said.
Hizer Hayat, the owner of a nearby grocery, said the blast occurred at 7:40am as he was opening the store.
"After the explosion, I went out on the street and found the ignition switch for a car amid the debris [which] I later gave to an intelligence agent," he said.
It was the second major attack against the ISI in recent months. On Sept. 4, a suicide attacker blew himself up after boarding a bus carrying ISI's employees, while a roadside bomb went off near a commercial area in Rawalpindi minutes apart, killing at least 25 people.
Islamic militants have launched dozens of suicide attacks this year. Most have taken place near the Afghan border, but several have taken place in the country's main cities, raising fears that violent extremism is spreading.
Authorities cited the risk of further attacks when they barred Bhutto from holding a rally in Rawalpindi last month against Musharraf's imposition of emergency rule.
Tension between militant groups and the military are at a high because of an ongoing military operation to sweep the followers of a pro-Taliban cleric from the northern Swat valley, where authorities say more than 300 militants have been killed in recent weeks.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese