Two die as suicide bomber targets US vehicle
in Peshawar
Monday September 03, 2012 07:37:31 PM,
IANS
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Islamabad: At least two
people were killed Monday when a suicide bomber rammed his car
packed with explosives into a US consulate vehicle near a UN
office in Pakistan's northwest city of Peshawar. The US embassy
said none of its nationals was killed in the attack.
The deafening blast took place at about 9 a.m. when one of two US
consulate vehicles, escorted by three police vehicles, was hit by
a suicide car bomber while the convoy was on way from the US
consulate to the American club, said Farhan, a police driver who
escorted the convoy.
"It was a big blast and a five-feet-deep crater was left on the
ground after the explosion", Xinhua quoted an eyewitness as
saying.
The bombing took place close to the office of the UN High
Commission for Refugees (UNHCR).
Authorities initially said that three people were killed, but
later revised the toll to two. A minister, however, put the number
of dead at four.
Mian Iftikhar, information minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
province, told the media: "The blast killed two Americans. This is
a dangerous move from the terrorists - they want to terrorise the
foreigners."
The US embassy here promptly denied reports that two Americans had
been killed, reported Online news agency.
An embassy spokesman said they had no reports of any Americans
being killed in the blast, after provincial information minister
Mian Iftikhar Hussain said two Americans had died.
The US Embassy in Islamabad released the statement by Department
of State spokesperson Ambassador Victoria Nuland which stated: "We
can confirm that a vehicle belonging to the US Consulate in
Peshawar was hit in an apparent terrorist attack.
"Two US personnel and two Pakistani staff of the Consulate were
injured and are receiving medical treatment. No US Consulate
personnel were killed, but we are seeking further information
about other victims of this heinous act. We stand ready to work
with Pakistani authorities on a full investigation so that the
perpetrators can be brought to justice."
One of the victims was later identified as Barkatullah Khan, who
hailed from Swat, while the identity of the other victim was not
immediately known, reported Geo News.
Imtiaz Altaf, a senior police official, said that apart from the
four policemen injured in the blast, at least 15 others, including
two kids and a woman, were also injured in the attack.
A half-burnt US passport was recovered from the vehicle that was
badly damaged in the blast.
Police estimated that up to 100 kg of explosives material was used
in the terror attack that left a big crater in the road and
destroyed a Jeep. The walls of four nearby houses were damaged.
The bombing took place barely four days after at least nine
people, including two children, were killed and over 20 injured in
a bomb blast in an auto workshop in Mattni Bazaar on the outskirts
of Peshawar.
Sources told Dawn that threats had been received two days ago
about an attack on the US consulate after which security had been
heightened.
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