Bombs Kill Up to 35 in Pakistan
Pastor Dale Morgan
Bombs Kill Up to 35 in Pakistan*
Saturday November 24, 2007 7:46 AM
By MUNIR AHMAD
Associated Press Writer
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) - Suicide bombers hit a bus carrying
intelligence agency employees and also targeted a checkpoint near the
headquarters of the Pakistan army on Saturday, killing up to 35 people,
several officials said.
The two attackers struck within minutes of each other 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,'' one 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 6 miles away,
said Mohammed Afzal, a local police official.
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. They
pushed people back 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 vehicle.
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
7:40 a.m. 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.
The latest violence comes as Pakistan remains under a state of
emergency, a move by President Gen. Pervez Musharraf that has prompted
stiff criticism of the military ruler, including from his key Western
ally, the United States.
Musharraf declared the state of emergency on Nov. 3, justifying it by
citing the escalating danger posed by Islamic extremists, though critics
have noted many of his moves have been against political opponents,
including members of the judiciary and journalists.
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.
A bomber blew himself up in Rawalpindi on Oct. 30 at a checkpoint
several hundred yards from an office of Musharraf, killing seven people.
That office was in a building complex known as Army House, about 3 miles
from the army headquarters area where Saturday's second blast occurred.
Two weeks earlier, a suicide attack on opposition leader Benazir
Bhutto's homecoming parade killed more than 140 people in Pakistan's
southern port city of Karachi.
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.
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Associated Press writer Zarar Khan contributed to this report.