Pakistan - suicide bombs

Intelligence agency targeted by Peshawar car bomb

Article published on the 2009-11-13 Latest update 2009-11-13 07:20 TU

A soldier stands guard in front of the ISI building in Peshawar, the site of a suicide bomb blast on 13 November 2009
(Photo: K Parvez/Reuters)

In the latest attacks in northern Pakistan, two suicide bombers killed at least 13 people in Peshawar Friday, one targeting Pakistan’s intelligence agency. At least five security personnel working at the provincial headquarters of the Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) were killed, according to officials, who put the overall death toll at ten. A second car bomb rammed into a suburban police station, killing three police officers.

Witnesses described huge clouds of smoke coming from the three-storey ISI building, whose front and middle collapsed.

"Five official personnel have been martyred," military spokesperson Major General Athar Abbas told the AFP news agency.

At least 30 people were wounded, and rescue workers are checking the site for anyone trapped under the rubble.

The second bomb exploded in the garrison city of Bannu, southwest of Peshawar, which injured 12 people, in addition to the police officers killed. The death toll is likely to rise, as more people are found in the wreckage.

Peshawar has become a target for major attacks by suspected Taliban fighters, with a series of deadly attacks that have left some 2,500 people dead in the past 28 months. The latest was Wednesday, which killed 32 people in Charsadda, to the north of Peshawar.

The government blames the increased attacks on the home-grown Taliban group Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), the target of a military offensive. Some 30,000 troops have been deployed to the mountainous areas of South Waziristan near the Afghan border in a US-backed effort to wipe out the main TTP strongholds.