PAKISTAN: Fifteen killed in Rawalpindi suicide blasts

Two suicide bombs kill 15 people in the Pakistani garrison town of Rawalpindi adjoining Islamabad. Twin suicide car bomb attacks killed 15 people in the Pakistani garrison town of Rawalpindi on Saturday, the military said. One car rammed a ministry of defence bus taking personnel to work at an intelligence service office, while another bomber blew up his car at a checkpoint outside army headquarters. Saturday's attack on the bus killed 15 people on board, while two soldiers were critically wounded by a car bomber who detonated explosives when they stopped him less than 100 metres from the main gates to the army's General Headquarters. No one claimed responsibility for the attacks in which the bombers died. Officials had earlier reported the death toll was 16. Army spokesman Major-General Waheed Arshad said there were 50 people sitting in the bus. Many were injured. Two security officials told Reuters on condition of anonymity that more than 35 people were killed, but there was no independent verification of the number of casualties. In late October a suicide attacker killed seven people near President Pervez Musharraf's army residence in Rawalpindi, which is next door to the capital. Islamist militants have waged a suicide bomb campaign since the army stormed the Red Mosque in the capital, Islamabad, to crush an armed radical movement. The attacks come on the heels of a string of suicide bombings blamed on Islamist militants amid rising insurgency, and as Pakistan heads towards a general election in early January in political convulsions under emergency rule.

ITN Source | November 24, 2007

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