Explosion rips through market in Pakistan
An explosion ripped through a market near a military base west of Islamabad today, killing a girl and injuring 16 other people, government officials and the state-run news agency said.
No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack in Pakistan’s eastern Punjab province and police and Interior Ministry officials said they were not sure who was behind it.
The victims were taken to hospital. The girl died from her injuries in the hospital, the ministry officials said.
The state-run agency, the Associated Press of Pakistan, or APP, said the explosion resulted from a time bomb in a vegetable bag placed at the entrance to the Sunday Bazaar.
The weekly market was still crowded with shoppers when the bomb went off, police said.
The explosion occurred in Kamra, 45 miles west of the capital Islamabad. The town is home to factories that produce defence equipment, including fighter planes.
Despite fierce opposition from hardline Islamic groups, Pakistan is a key supporter in the US-led war against terrorism.
Pakistan’s police recently accused rival India’s spy agency of sending its agents to disrupt law and
order.
