Two suicide car bombs kill 15 in north-western Pakistan (Roundup)

Sep 26, 2009, 10:20 GMT

   Peshawar - Two separate suicide car bombings on Saturday rocked Pakistan's volatile north-western region, killing at least 15 people and injuring dozens others, police and witnesses said.

   A suicide attacker detonated his explosive-packed vehicle at busy commercial area of provincial capital Peshawar, hours after a bomber exploded his truck at the gate of a police station in Bannu town.

   Seven people were killed at the scene while two succumbed to their injuries at the hospital. At least 85 more were injured, senior police officer Abdul Ghafoor Afridi said.

   Afridi said the blast destroyed more than two dozen vehicles and extensively damaged several buildings, including a bank connected with the military.

   Bomb-disposal squad Inspector Shafqat Malik said the bomber drove up to the Askari Commercial Bank, a subsidiary of the army's commercial and industrial concerns and apparent target, and hurled a hand grenade that failed to explode, before he detonated the car.

   A paramilitary Frontier Corps vehicle parked near the bank was completely destroyed and its driver killed.

   The road leading to the site runs through the army-dominated zone, and the attacker apparently dodged barricades and security check posts.

A witness named Ali Muhammad, told German Press Agency dpa that he was driving his vehicle through the area when the blast occurred.

   'My car just turned around due the impact. When I came out what I saw was horrible. There were dead bodies and dozens of men, women and children injured in the street or in their damaged cars.'

   'These terrorists are neither Muslims nor human, and the government should completely eliminate them, no matter how large the price it has to pay,' Muhammad said.

   Mian Iftikhar Hussain, North West Frontier Province information minister, said the attack could be retaliation for 'successful operations' by the military against Islamist militants in the region.

   The Peshawar blast occurred hours after a suicide attacker detonated his explosive-laden pickup truck at the gates of Mandan police station near Bannu, a provincial town bordering Pakistan's tribal region.

   The explosion flattened the police building, trapping dozens of people in the rubble.

   'Five policemen and a suspect being interrogated at the police station were killed and at least 60 people were injured,' Bannu police chief Iqbal Marwat said.

   Bannu borders the North Waziristan tribal district, a known hub of al-Qaeda and Taliban fighters. It has seen several militant assaults on government forces as well as civilian targets in recent months.

   A Taliban leader named Qari Hussain talked to reporters by phone from an undisclosed location, saying a Taliban fighter carried out the suicide bombing.

   Hussain warned of more attacks if the government did not stop its offensive against them in the region.

   Taliban have suffered heavily in the ongoing operations in Swat, the mountainous district in North West Frontier Province and the tribal district of Khyber that borders Afghanistan.

   Thousands of troops are winding up five-month long operation in Swat after regaining control of the region from Taliban and killing about 2,000 of them.