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Twin bombs kill 5 in Pakistan's Peshawar: official
By Lehaz Ali – 2 hours ago
PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AFP) — Twin motorbike bombs ripped through crowded markets in northwest Pakistan's Peshawar, killing five people and wounding 100 others on Thursday in the latest deadly attack in the city.
The explosions came a day after 24 people were killed and 300 wounded in a suicide car bomb attack in the eastern city of Lahore, which the Taliban claimed as revenge for an army offensive against militants in the northwest.
The first blast in Peshawar triggered a huge fire in Kabari Bazaar, which lies in a narrow lane and destroyed at least seven cars, witnesses said.
Minutes later a second bomb went off in another market across the road sparking another fire and gutting up to 18 electronics shops.
"Two separate timed bombs were planted on motorbikes, which exploded in quick succession," said Shafqat Malik, a senior police investigator.
Another police official, Abdul Ghafoor Afridi, said that a gunfight then broke between police and insurgents, with one suspected militant killed in the shoot-out near the smoke-filled blast site.
"I was in the bazaar. There were two blasts within minutes of each other. We ran towards our homes. There was thick smoke," one witness told reporters.
"We saw people lying on the ground. Five women were injured -- my own mother included and people started helping to take them to hospital," he added.
"We have received five bodies and more than 100 people are injured," Doctor Abid Hayat from the main government-run Lady Reading Hospital in Peshawar said.
Fire engines hosed down thick black smoke spewing out of buildings, as ambulances screeched through the streets and survivors picked through smouldering wreckage next to vehicles up in flames, television footage showed.
There were no immediate claims of responsibility for the attack.
Peshawar, the gateway to Pakistan's tribal badlands on the Afghan border where the United States says Taliban and Al-Qaeda extremists have carved out safe havens to plot new attacks on the West, has become increasingly volatile.
It was the third deadly such attack in 12 days in the city where many families have sought shelter after fleeing the military offensive further north.
Last Friday, a car bomb exploded outside a cinema killing 10 people and wounding around 70.
On May 16, another car bomb exploded outside an ice cream shop as a bus of special needs children was passing, killing 11 people.
The Peshawar bombings came hours after Pakistan's Taliban claimed responsibility for the Lahore attack, which damaged the offices of the country's top spy agency in Lahore, and threatened further assaults.
About 300 people were wounded when a van packed with nearly 100 kilograms (220 pounds) of explosives levelled a police building and damaged the provincial headquarters of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).
The bomb struck at the heart of Pakistan's security establishment, which has been pressing an offensive against Taliban militants in the northwest for more than a month, on a US-backed mission to "eliminate" extremists.
"I appeal to them (citizens of Pakistan) to vacate their cities as there will be more such massive attacks, more dangerous than this and we will target government buildings and places," said Taliban commander Hakimullah Mehsud.
AFP: Twin bombs kill 5 in Pakistan's Peshawar: official
By Lehaz Ali – 2 hours ago
PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AFP) — Twin motorbike bombs ripped through crowded markets in northwest Pakistan's Peshawar, killing five people and wounding 100 others on Thursday in the latest deadly attack in the city.
The explosions came a day after 24 people were killed and 300 wounded in a suicide car bomb attack in the eastern city of Lahore, which the Taliban claimed as revenge for an army offensive against militants in the northwest.
The first blast in Peshawar triggered a huge fire in Kabari Bazaar, which lies in a narrow lane and destroyed at least seven cars, witnesses said.
Minutes later a second bomb went off in another market across the road sparking another fire and gutting up to 18 electronics shops.
"Two separate timed bombs were planted on motorbikes, which exploded in quick succession," said Shafqat Malik, a senior police investigator.
Another police official, Abdul Ghafoor Afridi, said that a gunfight then broke between police and insurgents, with one suspected militant killed in the shoot-out near the smoke-filled blast site.
"I was in the bazaar. There were two blasts within minutes of each other. We ran towards our homes. There was thick smoke," one witness told reporters.
"We saw people lying on the ground. Five women were injured -- my own mother included and people started helping to take them to hospital," he added.
"We have received five bodies and more than 100 people are injured," Doctor Abid Hayat from the main government-run Lady Reading Hospital in Peshawar said.
Fire engines hosed down thick black smoke spewing out of buildings, as ambulances screeched through the streets and survivors picked through smouldering wreckage next to vehicles up in flames, television footage showed.
There were no immediate claims of responsibility for the attack.
Peshawar, the gateway to Pakistan's tribal badlands on the Afghan border where the United States says Taliban and Al-Qaeda extremists have carved out safe havens to plot new attacks on the West, has become increasingly volatile.
It was the third deadly such attack in 12 days in the city where many families have sought shelter after fleeing the military offensive further north.
Last Friday, a car bomb exploded outside a cinema killing 10 people and wounding around 70.
On May 16, another car bomb exploded outside an ice cream shop as a bus of special needs children was passing, killing 11 people.
The Peshawar bombings came hours after Pakistan's Taliban claimed responsibility for the Lahore attack, which damaged the offices of the country's top spy agency in Lahore, and threatened further assaults.
About 300 people were wounded when a van packed with nearly 100 kilograms (220 pounds) of explosives levelled a police building and damaged the provincial headquarters of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).
The bomb struck at the heart of Pakistan's security establishment, which has been pressing an offensive against Taliban militants in the northwest for more than a month, on a US-backed mission to "eliminate" extremists.
"I appeal to them (citizens of Pakistan) to vacate their cities as there will be more such massive attacks, more dangerous than this and we will target government buildings and places," said Taliban commander Hakimullah Mehsud.
AFP: Twin bombs kill 5 in Pakistan's Peshawar: official
