A suicide car bomb destroyed an office complex of Pakistan’s main spy agency in the north western city of Peshawar yesterday, killing at least 10 people and wounding more than 50.
An hour later another suicide bomber rammed his explosives-packed vehicle into a police post in Bakka Khel, near the town of Bannu in the North West Frontier Province, killing at least three people and wounding 25, police said.
The area borders South Waziristan, where thousands of Pakistani troops have been battling Taleban militants for the past three weeks. The bombs are the latest in a string of militant attacks targeting the security institutions overseeing the offensive.
The explosion in Peshawar occurred in the early hours of yesterday near the office of the Inter-Services Intelligence Agency (ISI).
Asad Ali, a Peshawar resident, said: “It was the biggest explosion I’ve ever heard. Witnesses said that the building had completely collapsed.
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It is not clear how many people were in the building when the bomber struck at about 6.40am local time, before the city’s rush hour.
Doctors said that more than 50 people, including women and children were wounded. Police that said employees of the ISI were among the casualties.
Security has been further tightened in the city, which has borne the brunt of the latest surge in militant violence. In one of the worst attacks earlier this month more than 120 mainly woman and children were killed.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for today’s attacks but police officials blamed Taleban insurgents. The militants have previously warned of bloody attacks if the Pakistani Army does not stop its offensive in South Waziristan.
“It is a guerilla war and insurgents are targeting everything,” Mian Iftikhar Hussain, the information minister for the North West Frontier Province, told reporters.
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Last month gunmen stormed the Army General Headquarters in Rawalpindi, triggering a 22-hour stand off. The insurgents have also been targeting senior military officers.
More than 400 people have been killed since the Pakistan Army began its campaign to drive the insurgents out of their stronghold in north western Swat Valley and South Waziristan.