US consulate in Pakistan attacked after bombings kill 49 (2nd Roundup)

Apr 5, 2010, 18:33 GMT

Peshawar, Pakistan - Suspected Islamic militants attacked a US consulate in northwest Pakistan with a series of bombings, killing seven people, hours after 42 people perished in a suicide attack at a rally in the region on Monday.

The attacks appeared to exhibit the Taliban's capability to carry out well coordinated strikes despite recent efforts by Pakistani forces to step up its operations and intensified drone attacks on the militants by US forces in areas near the Afghan border.

The militants wearing paramilitary uniforms fired rocket propelled grenades at the fortified consulate building in the city of Peshawar, after a bomb exploded at the outer security cordon in the capital of North-West Frontier Province (NWFP).

Two more explosions followed as the attackers exchanged gunfire with the Pakistani soldiers and private security guards at the US mission.

'The terrorists did not manage to go inside the building,' said Bashir Ahmad Bilour, the deputy head of the regional government in NWFP. His own house was also damaged in the bombings series, its doors and windows smashed.

An intelligence official said that 12 people died in the coordinates strikes while 20 were injured. Five of those killed were the suspected Taliban assailants. No American was injured. 'All of them were wearing suicide vests,' added the official.

The first two blasts occurred about 25 metres from the consulate near its outer security cordon while the third, large blast carried out by a truck bomb, damaged the outer wall of the building.

Ariel Howard, acting spokesperson of the US embassy in Islamabad, condemned the terrorist attack, in which she said, 'at least two Pakistani security guards employed by the Consulate General' were also killed and a number of others seriously wounded.

'This attack, and the one earlier today in Lower Dir which killed and wounded many others, reflects the terrorists' desperation as they are rejected by people throughout Pakistan,' she said.

Forty people died and around 80 were injured when a suicide bombing ripped through a political rally organized by a secular nationalist party ruling the province in Timar Girah, the main town in Lower Dir district.

The bomber detonated his explosives as hundreds of activists of the Awami National Party (ANP) were gathered to celebrate the proposed renaming of province as Khyber Pakhtwankhwah in recognition of Pushto-speaking ethnic Pashtuns.

'According to the information we have received, 42 people were killed while more than 80 are injured,' said Mumtaz Zarin, the district police chief. Four policemen were also among the injured.

Television footage showed people running in panic following the lethal blast and the injured being bundled and shoved into ambulances and private vehicles.

Zarin said eight to 10 kilograms of explosives were used in the bombing.

Qazi Jamil, the head of Malakand region of which Lower Dir is a district, said the bombing was 'apparently carried out by a single suicide bomber who was on foot.'

Azam Tariq, a Taliban spokesman, accepted responsibility for the attack, Aaj television reported.

The ANP, a secular and nationalist party, is supporting the military offensive against Taliban in the areas and militants have carried out attacks against its activists and leaders for the last three years, killing dozens of them.

'People were celebrating when the enemies exploded the bomb,' said Zahid Khan, an ANP spokesman, whose brother was injured in the attack.

'These people are neither Muslims, neither Pashtuns. They are not even human beings,' he said.

The district head of the ANP, Sultan Zeb, also died in the bombing.

The attack in Dir came weeks after a suicide bomber drove his car into a military convoy in the district, killing five Pakistanis and three US soldiers on February 3.

The US troops were part of a team deployed to train the paramilitary Frontier Corps that is spearheading the action against Taliban in the north-western region.

Pakistani security forces carried out a major offensive in Lower Dir and nearby districts last spring to expel the Taliban fighters from the Swat valley.

Although the government forces have gained control over much of the area, Taliban fighters remain encamped in mountain hideouts.