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Islamabad: A suicide attack in northwestern Pakistan has targeted a
paramilitary police force commander, killing at least 10 people and wounding at
least 25 others.
RFE/RL’s Radio Mashaal reports that Abdul Majeed Marwat's
con
voy was passing through a military checkpoint on Fakhr-i-Alam road in Peshawar on March 29 when a suicide bomber set off his explosives.
voy was passing through a military checkpoint on Fakhr-i-Alam road in Peshawar on March 29 when a suicide bomber set off his explosives.
A hospital source told Radio Mashaal that Marwat, the
commander of the Frontier Constabulary for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province, was
injured, but it's not clear how seriously. The source said six of the dead, all
civilians, and 11 of the wounded were brought to the Lady Reading Hospital.
Four others who were killed, including two soldiers, and at
least a dozen wounded were brought to the Combined Military Hospital.
Mohammed Bilal, a worker at Al-Khidmat Foundation, a
Pakistani nongovernmental organization providing humanitarian services, was at
the scene of the explosion and later spoke to Radio Mashaal.
"There was a suicide attack on the commander’s
vehicle,” he said. “When army ambulances arrived, they didn't let us help. They
took their injured [personnel] to the Combined Military Hospital. The suicide
bomber's body parts are in my vehicle. The bomb disposal squad told me to take
these parts to the relevant police station."
The attack happened only about 200 meters from the heavily
guarded U.S. Consulate in Peshawar, which has been attacked before.
Local Pakistani officials said there was no indication that
the consulate was the target.
Pakistani Taliban spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan claimed
responsibility for the attack in a call to Radio Mashaal.
Pakistani security forces have come under frequent attack by
the Taliban militants in areas near the border with Afghanistan.
There has been a recent increase in violence ahead of the
country's general elections set for May 11.
Copyright (c) 2013. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.
Copyright (c) 2013. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.