Twin Blasts Kill up to 35 in Pakistan
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ISLAMABAD — Militants struck at the heart of Pakistan’s security establishment Saturday, killing up to 35 people in suicide attacks on a checkpoint outside army headquarters and a bus carrying intelligence agency employees, officials said.
The brazen early morning attacks in Rawalpindi coincided with the announcement that a former prime minister overthrown in 1999 by the country’s military leader General Pervez Musharraf, Nawaz Sharif, would return from exile Sunday.
Mr. Sharif, one of President Musharraf’s most strident political foes, may contest parliamentary elections scheduled for January.
“Nawaz Sharif and other members of his family are coming back to (the eastern Pakistani city of) Lahore on Sunday,” a senior leader of Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League-N party, Sadique al-Farooq, said.
Meanwhile, Pakistan’s electoral commission formally ratified General Musharraf’s election for a second 5-year term as president. The move, widely expected after General Musharraf’s hand-picked justices on the Supreme Court confirmed it Friday, paves the way for the president to resign from the army and rule as a civilian.
The suicide attacks came as Pakistan remained under a state of emergency, which General Musharraf declared on November 3, justifying it by citing the escalating danger posed by Islamic extremists. His critics have noted, however, that many of his moves have been against political opponents — including members of the judiciary, journalists, and other moderates.
The two suicide attackers struck just before 8 a.m. in Rawalpindi, a garrison city just south of the capital, Islamabad, as employees were arriving for work.
In the first attack, an explosive-laden car rammed a bus carrying employees from the Inter-Services Intelligence agency, or ISI. The other bomber hit an army checkpoint in another part of the city, a local police official, Mohammed Afzal, said.
Two senior intelligence officials — one of them at the scene — said at least 35 people were killed. They requested anonymity, citing the sensitivity of their work.
An army statement said it could only confirm that 15 were killed in the attack on the bus, as well as the suicide bomber. It said that two security forces personnel were critically injured in the second attack, and that the bomber died.
“We suspect that pro-Taliban militants who are fighting security forces in our tribal areas are behind this attack,” one intelligence official said, adding the injured and dead were being transported to hospitals.
The other intelligence agent, who was at the scene, said that the destroyed bus was a 72-seater, but that it was badly overloaded and more people were believed on board. The army statement said 50 were on the vehicle.
After the blast, troops and police quickly cordoned off the area. They pushed people back and snatched cameras and mobile phones from journalists and bystanders. Agents fanned out across the area, picking up pieces of metal that appeared to be from the bomber’s car.
The owner of the Oriel guesthouse across from the intelligence compound, Shoaib Abbasi, said that when he came out on the street after the blast, the bus was burning fiercely.
“Firemen tried to open the emergency doors while they were dousing the interior, but I can’t believe anyone inside survived because of the intensity of the fire,” he said.
The the owner of a nearby grocery store, Khyzer Hayat, said the blast occurred at 7:40 a.m. “After the explosion, I went out on the street and found the ignition switch for a car amid the debris (which) I later gave to an intelligence agent,” he said.
General Musharraf condemned the blasts and sent his condolences to victims’ families. He said the attacks would not deter his government’s resolve in fighting terrorism, according to Pakistan’s state news agency.
Tensions between militant groups and Pakistan’s military are high due to an ongoing military operation to sweep fighters from the northern Swat valley, where authorities say more than 300 militants have been killed in recent weeks.
Saturday’s attack was the second major strike against the intelligence agency in recent months. On September 4, a suicide attacker blew himself up after boarding a bus carrying ISI employees, while a roadside bomb went off near a commercial area in Rawalpindi within minutes. At least 25 people were killed.
Islamic militants have launched dozens of suicide attacks this year. Most have taken place near the Afghan border, but several have taken place in the country’s main cities, raising fears that violent extremism is spreading.