Peshawar, PAKISTAN (Agencies)
A suicide bomber blew up his explosives-filled car Saturday at a police checkpoint in the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar, killing at least 10 people, officials said.
"At least 11 people have been killed and 26 others wounded," Peshawar district administration chief Sahibzada Anis told AFP, adding that the bomber detonated when police asked him to stop for a search.
" I saw that there was some argument between the driver and the policeman and suddenly a blast downed me with shrapnel piercing my shoulder " Malik Jehangir, security man Three women, three children and five men were killed in the blast, he added.
Peshawar police chief Liaqat Ali Khan told AFP that two policemen were among the dead, in the second suicide bombing in the city in as many days.
Malik Jehangir, in charge of the checkpoint, told AFP policemen were checking vehicles when he saw a suspicious black car across the barrier and asked one of the policemen to go and check it.
"I saw that there was some argument between the driver and the policeman and suddenly a blast downed me with shrapnel piercing my shoulder," he said.
Another witness, Akbar Ali, said that he was riding a motorcycle and waiting in the queue at the checkpoint when he saw a scuffle between the bomber and the policeman.
"He was a young man, about 20 years old with small beard and wearing a white cap. When I noticed that his body was swollen, I left my bike there and ran away fearing he might be a bomber."
Ali said that seconds after a huge blast threw him to the ground.
Live television footage showed a huge cloud of smoke above the Pushta Khara neighborhood, on the outskirts of Peshawar, and the wreckage of several cars.
Pieces of the bomber's car littered the road. Several other vehicles were badly damaged, with one flipped onto its roof. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the blast.
The army offensive in South Waziristan is aimed at rooting out Pakistani Taliban militants who stepped up their war on the security forces in 2007.
The United States, weighing options as it struggles to stabilize Afghanistan, says Pakistani action against militants in border enclaves is vital for its Afghan effort. |
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Taliban claim " We will carry out similar attacks in other parts of the country " Qari Hussain Mehsud, a senior Pakistani Taliban member On Friday, a suicide car bomb exploded at an office of Pakistan's main intelligence agency in Peshawar, killing 17 people. The Taliban said it carried out that attack, as well as a suicide bombing at a police station in the northwestern town of Bannu on Friday, in which seven people were killed.
"We will carry out similar attacks in other parts of the country," Qari Hussain Mehsud, a senior Pakistani Taliban member and a cousin of Taliban chief Hakimullah Mehsud, told Reuters by telephone. Hussain is known as "the mentor of suicide bombers."
The military says it has killed more than 520 militants in the offensive in South Waziristan, including seven on Saturday.
Soldiers have advanced into the militant heartland from three directions and captured several Taliban base areas in the region of barren mountains, ravines and patchy forest.
There has been no independent verification of casualties. Reporters and other independent observers are not allowed into the conflict zone except on occasional trips with the military. |
