Suicide bombing kills up to 20 in Pakistani garrison town (3rd Lead)

Nov 2, 2009, 6:58 GMT

A suicide bomber on a motorbike detonated his explosives in a busy commercial area in Pakistan\'s garrison town of Rawalpindi, killing up to 20 people and injuring more than a dozen Monday, police said. Photo shows an earlier attack elsewhere. EPA/SAID NAZIR

   Rawalpindi, Pakistan - A suicide bomber on a motorbike detonated his explosives in a busy commercial area in Pakistan's garrison town of Rawalpindi, killing up to 20 people and injuring more than a dozen Monday, police said.

   The blast occurred outside a state-run bank and a private hotel, a few hundred metres from the Pakistan Army's headquarters, which was attacked by Taliban militants last month.

   Ishtiaq Shah, the city traffic police chief, said between 15 and 20 bodies and a similar number of wounded were taken to hospitals.

   He said the blast occurred when government employees and security personnel were withdrawing their salaries from the bank.

   The explosion damaged several cars waiting at a traffic signal.

   'When I reached the scene there were dead and wounded people lying everywhere,' witness Shaukat Ali said. 'Some bodies did not have heads and some were missing legs. People covered the women whose clothes were burnt by the explosion. It was so shameful.'

   Regional police chief Aslam Tareen said it was a suicide bombing carried out by a man riding a motorbike. 'The explosives were apparently planted in the motorbike,' he said.

   No one claimed immediate responsibility for the bomb but Taliban militants have intensified attacks on civilian and official targets as the military conducts a major offensive in their main heartland of South Waziristan.

   Last week, a car bomb exploded in a busy street in Peshawar, the capital of the restive North-West Frontier Province, killing some 119 people and injuring 200 more.

   A United Nations statement issued Monday said it was partially withdrawing its staff from the province and the neighbouring tribal area due to the 'intense security situation in the region.'

   The world body has 'reduced international UN staff member in NWFP and FATA [Federally Administered Tribal Areas], with presence of only those vital for emergency, humanitarian relief, security operations or any other essential operations as advised by the secretary-general,' UN spokesman Ishrat Rizvi said.

   All other international UN staff who were involved in program activities will be relocated out of the north-western region.