PESHAWAR, Pakistan: Suspected militants drove a car packed with explosives into a police station in the Pakistani town of Peshawar on Wednesday, killing a policeman and wounding 15 people, the latest attack since Osama bin laden was killed this month.
The police station, where the office of the Criminal Investigation Department, which also investigates militancy, is located, was destroyed in the blast, a Reuters witness said.
Residents said the explosion rattled windows throughout town. Television showed police and soldiers cordoning off the affected district.
One policeman was killed and 15 were wounded in the dawn attack, hospital officials said.
“The car was packed with explosives, it hit the gate of the police station,” said senior superintendent of police Ejaz Khan.
Rescue officials said death toll could rise as several people are believed to be trapped in the rubble.
The bombing comes days after a brazen raid on a heavily guarded Pakistani naval base in the southern city of Karachi in which 10 military personnel were killed and two aircraft destroyed. The Pakistani Taliban said they staged that assault to avenge the death of al Qaeda leader bin Laden.
Wednesday’s attack in Peshawar occurred about 1 km (half amile) from the US consulate and in the same district where a car bomb exploded last week as a US consulate convoy passed by. One man was killed and about a dozen people were wounded, including two US nationals.
Peshawar is the gateway to Pakistan’s turbulent northwest region believed to have become a hub of al Qaeda and Taliban militants.
The Pakistani Taliban also clamed responsibility for the attack on the US convoy, the first attack on foreigners since a US commando team killed bin Laden early this month.
one more sad incident!! May Allah swt keep Pakistan in his amaan and these savages rot in hell!
Ameen..suma Ameen. Nazar lag gai kisi ki..hamarai watan ko. We need to declare another war against these terrorist and take this war into their backyard and hideout.
Piece by piece operations won't work. Pakistan has to become serious with intelligence and police been brought to par as well as FC / Rangers, so Pakistan gets its money's worth with the interior ministry. Deploying army in small numbers and for a time as specialists is desirable but open ended commitments will take you no where as who will defend the borders? Army also gets sidetracked and exposed to more corruption as it dwells too deep into civilian bureaucratic matters.
I think the best that the army can do right now is provide the equipment + training that FC and other paramilitary organizations like Rangers should have received (some of it was diverted) and make good use of US counterinsurgency training.
Compared to what happened in PNS Mehran, now this suddenly seems a minor incident. Many people would be happy over the small number of casualties and damage. See how the entire spectrum of feelings and happiness has changed for us :(
where are these guys getting such an ample supply of explosives? car-full, truck-full, belt-full....wow! you may not be able to check the money flow (or don't want to because the arabs or isi won't let you) but isn't there a way to check the flow of tnt, dynamite, gel sticks and stuff that goes boom? in carfulls and truck fulls?
dude its not just Arabs involve in this .. non arabs are funding and providing everything!
when I think money supply the chinese and arabs are the ones rolling in that stuff. I somehow don't think chinese care about creating anarchy in pakistan; the arabs may have religious motives