Pakistan: Seven dead in bomb blast
Suspected Islamic militants triggered two bombs in northwestern Pakistan today, with one exploding near a police van that left seven people dead and four wounded, officials said.
The first remote control bomb shattered the police vehicle while it was on a routine patrol in Dera Ismail Khan, a city in northwestern Pakistan, 180 miles southwest of the capital Islamabad, local police official Dar Ali Khattak said.
Three policemen, three paramilitary soldiers and a passer-by were killed in the explosion on the road in the city’s Kotli Imam neighbourhood, Khattak said.
Four other people – two women and two men, all bystanders – were being treated at the hospital for injuries from the explosion, he said.
About four hours later, another bomb exploded near the scene of the first one, cracking a wall at a nearby government building but injuring no one, another police official Khuda Dad Mahsud said.
Khattak initially reported that the first bomb was planted in the police vehicle but he said that according to the latest information from the scene the explosion was caused by a roadside bomb.
No claimed responsibility for the explosions but Khattak blamed Islamic militants from a neighbouring tribal region from involvement.
He did not give details immediately.
Dera Ismail Khan is located near South Waziristan tribal region, where, according to military officials, Islamic militants are hiding. The fighters have been blamed for attacks on security forces.
