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Rocket attack on Pakistani city | Rocket attack on Pakistani city |
(about 1 hour later) | |
At least eight people have been killed and 40 injured after a rocket attack by suspected Islamic militants on a city in north-west Pakistan, police say. | At least eight people have been killed and 40 injured after a rocket attack by suspected Islamic militants on a city in north-west Pakistan, police say. |
Four rockets were fired into Bannu hitting a number of houses, a mosque and a shop, a police official said. | Four rockets were fired into Bannu hitting a number of houses, a mosque and a shop, a police official said. |
Bombings and attacks have soared in Pakistan since security forces ousted pro-Taleban militants from a radical mosque in Islamabad earlier in July. | Bombings and attacks have soared in Pakistan since security forces ousted pro-Taleban militants from a radical mosque in Islamabad earlier in July. |
About 200 people, mostly police and soldiers, have died in the attacks. | |
Police have sealed all entry and exit points and also tightened security in the town Bannu police officer Mohammad Ghulam | Police have sealed all entry and exit points and also tightened security in the town Bannu police officer Mohammad Ghulam |
Meanwhile, one of Pakistan's most wanted Islamic militant leaders has been buried, a day after officials said he had blown himself up to avoid arrest. | |
Abdullah Mehsud, a Taleban veteran who the US freed from Guantanamo Bay, was laid to rest in his home village of Nano in Pakistan's South Waziristan tribal area. | |
There was a huge turnout by local militants and tribesmen for the funeral. Mehsud was given a gun salute before being buried in his family's ancestral graveyard. | |
Civilians hit | |
Bannu is near the Afghan border on the edge of the North Waziristan tribal region, a centre of support for pro-Taleban militants. | |
The attack came before dawn. | |
"They hit civilian areas. Eight people, including a woman, have been killed," Bannu's police chief, Daar Ali Khattak, told Reuters news agency. | "They hit civilian areas. Eight people, including a woman, have been killed," Bannu's police chief, Daar Ali Khattak, told Reuters news agency. |
But local journalists and eyewitnesses said the toll was higher. They said at least 14 people died in the attack. At least five policemen were among the injured. | |
It is not clear what the target of Wednesday's attack was and no group has said it fired the rockets, two of which landed not far from a police station in the crowded old city. | |
Observers say other police stations on the edge of the city would have presented targets with less risk to civilians. | |
Islamic militant groups have claimed responsibility for previous attacks in the region, most of which have been aimed at police and soldiers. | |
Other violence | |
Following the mosque assault, militants along the border scrapped controversial peace accords with the government. | |
Violence has risen dramatically since then, most of it in Pakistan's north-west. | |
On Wednesday, security fears prompted government offices and banks to close for a second day running in Miran Shah, the main town in North Waziristan. | |
A number of blasts were reported in the town, but no casualties. | |
And in the Khaar area further north, suspected militants killed two Pakistani soldiers kidnapped on Monday. | |
To the south, in Balochistan province, police said that unidentified gunmen had shot dead a former Taleban commander, Mullah Naimatullah Noorzai, in the town of Chaman. | |