Pakistan - bomb blast

Bomb blast in Peshawar kills 13

Article published on the 2009-10-16 Latest update 2009-10-16 16:08 TU

Residents in Peshawar return to collect belongings from their homes after Thursday's bomb
(Photo: Reuters)

A bomb exploded on Friday near a police investigation bureau in an army garrison of Pakistan's north-west city of Peshawar in what appears to be a new attack on security forces.

Thirteen people are reported to have died in the blast. Several others were injured.

The blast is reported to have taken place in the Swati Pathak area of the city, which is close to army garrisons.

Police say the attack appears to be the work of a suicide bomber.

Geo News TV reports that the bomber was a burqa-clad woman, who arrived on a motorbike with a man and detonated her explosives when security officials tried to stop her.

The blast comes a day after at least 39 people were killed in a string of assaults on security buildings in Lahore, striking at the heart of the country's political heartland, and bombings in the north-west.

It is the sixth attack in 12 days and brings the death toll to over 170. The onslaught takes place as the military pursues an anti-Taliban offensive in South Waziristan, which follows a campaign in Swat valley in North-West Frontier Province.

Shaheed Khaquan Abbas of the opposition Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz Party says there are fears that the militant bombing campaign has not finished.

“It’s a cause of concern for the government… we feel that the government has to continue the course and take the fight to the Taliban,” Abbas told RFI.

“There is a threat of more attacks in the next few days,” but citing government crackdowns that led to a 3 month-lull in attacks, he says “the government strategy in that part worked," and could work again if implemented properly.

Three soldiers were killed and four wounded in a rocket attack in South Waziristan on Friday, officials said.

US President Barack Obama on Thursday signed the Kerry-Lugar bill into law, tripling Washington's aid to Pakistan. The bill has caused controversy in Pakisan, because of conditions attached to it.  

Although Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi told reporters in Washington on Wednesday that Obama would attach a statement making changes to the law, the President did not do so.