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Twin blasts kill 15 in Pakistan | |
(20 minutes later) | |
Two suspected suicide blasts have killed at least 15 people and injured others in the Pakistani garrison city of Rawalpindi, officials say. | Two suspected suicide blasts have killed at least 15 people and injured others in the Pakistani garrison city of Rawalpindi, officials say. |
One explosion hit a bus carrying security forces, killing at least 15 people, a military spokesman said. | One explosion hit a bus carrying security forces, killing at least 15 people, a military spokesman said. |
Another left officers badly wounded at an army checkpoint, he added. | Another left officers badly wounded at an army checkpoint, he added. |
There have been a number of suicide bombings in Pakistan in recent months, including an attack that left at least 135 people dead in Karachi last month. | There have been a number of suicide bombings in Pakistan in recent months, including an attack that left at least 135 people dead in Karachi last month. |
This is the third recent strike on Rawalpindi. | This is the third recent strike on Rawalpindi. |
In one incident on Saturday, a bomber in a car detonated explosives at an army checkpoint outside the Pakistani army's general headquarters in Rawalpindi, army spokesman Major-General Waheed Arshad said. | |
Other reports from security sources said at least one officer died in this explosion. | |
At about the same time, a car carrying explosives reportedly rammed a Pakistani defence ministry bus heading to an intelligence services building. | |
An intelligence agent at the scene told the Associated Press that the destroyed bus was a 72-seater, but that more people were on board. | |
He said the death toll was likely to rise. | |
Witnesses described a burned-out bus with dozens of ambulances stationed around. | |
Soldiers and police quickly sealed the scene, and forced bystanders and journalists back. | |
"Both were suicide attacks," Gen Arshad told local reporters. | |
Military HQ | |
No group has yet claimed responsibility for the bombings, but the BBC's Barbara Plett in Islamabad says they are often suspected to have been carried out by pro-Taleban militants in revenge for military operations in the tribal areas near the Afghan border and in North-West Frontier Province. | No group has yet claimed responsibility for the bombings, but the BBC's Barbara Plett in Islamabad says they are often suspected to have been carried out by pro-Taleban militants in revenge for military operations in the tribal areas near the Afghan border and in North-West Frontier Province. |
Rawalpindi, near the capital Islamabad, is the headquarters of the Pakistani military and where General Pervez Musharraf, the Pakistani president, has his offices. | |
The country is in the midst of political turmoil. Gen Musharraf has imposed emergency rule, which critics say will undermine elections scheduled for January. | |
The president has promised to step down as head of the army, and to rule as a civilian president. |