Suicide bomber kills four in Pakistan (2nd Lead)

Dec 24, 2009, 8:28 GMT

Islamabad - A suicide bomber on foot set off explosives in a busy commercial district in Pakistan's north-western city of Peshawar Thursday, killing four people, police said.

At least 20 people were wounded in the explosion on the city's main road, which is lined with the offices of government and private organizations, local police chief Liaquat Ali Khan said.

'A policeman tried to search the bomber as he approached The Mall [road], but he detonated the explosives,' Khan said.

Three people, including the policeman, died at the scene, while a man succumbed to his injuries in hospital.

Peshawar, capital of the militancy-plagued North-West Frontier Province, has seen frequent terrorist attacks since mid-October when government forces launched an offensive against Taliban militants in the adjoining tribal belt.

The blast on Thursday came two days after a teenager blew himself up at the gates of a club for journalists, killing three people.

Doctors at the state-run Lady Reading hospital said four of the 12 people brought there Thursday suffered critical wounds. They feared the death toll might increase.

Up to 7 kilograms of explosives were used in the blast, which shattered the windowpanes of nearby buildings and damaged several vehicles.

The private Geo News television channel showed footage shot through a security camera installed across from the blast site. People on the road ducked when a cloud of smoke filled the area as the bomber, who was not visible in the frame, triggered the explosion.

Bashir Ahmad Bilour, senior provincial minister for local government and rural development, condemned the attack but asserted that such actions could not deter the government from fighting insurgents.

Pakistani security forces are in the midst of an offensive against Taliban and al-Qaeda militants in their redoubt of South Waziristan near the Afghan border.

The army said it has killed more than 600 rebels since October 17, but the figures are hard to confirm independently.

Islamist militants have responded with a series of bombings on official, military and civilian targets across the country, killing more than 500 people in the past two months.

The United States is also pressuring Pakistan to expand its operations against the Taliban to supplement the new US Afghan strategy, which includes a significant troop surge to tackle the growing insurgency.