Islamabad, April 06: Serial suicide blasts rocked different parts of Pakistan on Monday, killing 46 people.
While 43 people died and over 100 were injured after a suicide bomber blew himself up at Timergara in lower Dir, three were killed when Taliban militants attempted to storm the US consulate in Peshawar. The Taliban militants carried out the attacks with car bombs and grenades.
Six heavily armed attackers came in two cars and raked two security check posts of the consulate with gunfire as a series of grenade explosions rocked the cantonment area where the consulate is located. The attackers were later gunned down by the security forces.
Pakistan’s Taliban claimed the consulate attack was to avenge a US drone war targeting top militants in areas along the Pakistan- Afghanistan border. It threatened further assaults on Americans.
“ The target was certainly the US consulate but they didn’t succeed in getting there,” a police officer said. Senior provincial minister Bashir Bilour said the militants were well- equipped and it was a well- organised attack.
“ The attackers were carrying a large amount of explosives and several suicide jackets which were defused by security personnel,” Bilour said.
The US embassy said in a statement in Islamabad that the coordinated attack involved a vehicle suicide bomb and terrorists who had attempted to enter the consulate using grenades and weapons fire. A policeman and two Pakistani security guards employed by the consulate were killed and a number of others were seriously wounded, the statement said.
The embassy said militants tried to enter the building and fired grenades and other weapons, but were not successful. It also said no American was killed in the assault.
The security barrier near the US consulate gate was damaged, and shells from rocket- propelled grenades and hand grenades were left lying in the area, which was sealed off by Pakistani police and army, witnesses said.
The bodies of six militants were found in the area, Geo News channel quoted its sources as saying.
The attackers, who were wearing uniforms of the Frontier Corps, targeted an armoured car at Shama Chowk, the channel said.
Hours earlier, a suicide bomber struck at a political gathering of the North West Frontier Province’s ruling Awami National Party to celebrate the renaming of the Pushtundominated province as Khyber- Pakhtoonkhwa.
The blast occurred at a rest house in the market of Timergara, the headquarters of Lower Dir district.
Deputy inspector general of police ( Malakand division) Qazi Jamilur Rahman and senior ANP leader Zahid Khan confirmed it was a suicide attack. Sultan Zeb, a middle rung ANP leader, was among the dead. Several witnesses said they had seen police firing at the suicide bomber before he detonated his explosives.
US CONDEMNS ATTACKS
The US on Monday condemned the attack on its consulate in Peshawar and expressed great concern. “ We strongly condemn the violence,” said White House spokesman Robert Gibbs.
The US said at least two Pakistani security guards employed by the consulate were killed and a number of others seriously wounded. Gibbs said the attacks had only succeeded in killing Pakistanis, something which in the past had merely served to strengthen Islamabad’s determination to battle the militants The European Union’s foreign affairs chief condemned attacks in Pakistan, calling it a bid to undermine democracy. “ Catherine Ashton condemns the attacks and deplores this violence which is an attempt to undermine democracy in Pakistan and the wider region,” her spokesman said.
“ She sends her condolences to all those affected by the attacks and expresses the EU’s solidarity with the Pakistani authorities,” the spokesman added.
—Agencies