Pakistan

Bombs hit police HQ and school bus in north-west

Article published on the 2008-10-09 Latest update 2008-10-09 10:13 TU

A security official collects evidence at the site of the blast
(Photo: Reuters)

A roadside bomb near the violence-torn Swat valley in north-west Pakistan has killed at least ten people, according to local officials, while a bomb at the Islamabad police headquarters is reported to have wounded seven and badly damaged buildings. The attack came amid a massive security deployment in the capital ahead of a parliamentary briefing on an anti-Al Qaeda offensive.

A roadside bomb exploded near a prison van and a school bus in Upper Dir district on Thursday. Three schoolchildren, four police officers and three prisoners who had just appeared in court were killed by the remote-controlled device, according to a local mayor and a police official.

The district is near the Swat Valley, where troops have been locked in battle with Islamist fighters for several months.

The Islamabad blast injured seven people and seems to have been detonated by a suicide-bomber, who rammed a car into the anti-terrorist squad building.

The blast was so powerful that the facade of the three-storey building was ripped off.

Police now deny earlier reports that eight people were killed.

Casualties would apparently have been higher if almost the entire staff had not been on duty at the parliament building, where a briefing was due to take place on efforts to fight Al-Qaeda and Taliban in Pakistan's autonomous tribal areas.