Islamabad: In the first suicide attack in the
Pakistani capital in nearly two years, a teenage bomber on Monday
blew himself up outside a private bank killing at least one
person and injuring several others, while two more blasts in
the country`s restive areas claimed three lives and left six
people wounded.
The bomber detonated his explosive vest when he was
stopped by a security guard as he tried to enter the bank at
the market in Islamabad`s Sector I-8, police said.
The guard who stopped the bomber was killed and
several others were injured, they said.
Officials at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences
said they had received one body and three injured persons.
The condition of two wounded was described as serious.
Police said they had found the head of the bomber, who
appeared to be about 18 to 19 years old. He was dressed in
a shalwar-kameez and approached the bank on foot.
Footage on television showed the facade of the private
bank was destroyed by the powerful blast. All the windows were
blown out and the ceiling collapsed. Pieces of metal and
tangled wires hung at the entrance of the bank.
No group claimed responsibility for the blast.
Today`s suicide attack was the first in the Pakistani
capital since December 2009, when a bomber attacked the navy
headquarters, killing one person.
Three persons, including a teenage boy, were injured
when an explosive device went off beside a road on the
outskirts of Islamabad yesterday.
In another blast today, three Pakistani soldiers were
killed and four others injured when a military convoy was
targeted with a roadside bomb in the restive South Waziristan
tribal region.
The bomb was detonated by remote control and destroyed
a vehicle, officials were quoted as saying by TV news
channels.
The soldiers were on a routine patrol when the convoy
was attacked.
Separately, at least two persons were injured when a bomb
went off near a police complex in Quetta city in southwest
Pakistan.
The blast occurred near the Police Lines at Gulistan
Road in Quetta, the capital of the restive Balochistan
province, TV news channels quoted officials as saying.
The nature of the blast could not immediately be
ascertained. The explosion damaged several nearby buildings.
A suicide attack on a police officer`s home in the same
area of Quetta on April 7 had killed a policeman and injured
nine more.
PTI
