PAKISTAN: Bomb blast kills six in northwest

Record ID: 357221

  • Title: PAKISTAN: Bomb blast kills six in northwest
  • Date: 18th August 2009
  • Summary: PESHAWAR, PAKISTAN (AUGUST 17, 2009) (REUTERS) EXTERIOR OF LADY READING HOSPITAL
  • Embargoed: 2nd September 2009 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Pakistan
  • Country: Pakistan
  • Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement
  • Reuters ID: LVAE601IC64VKFEITDH4KK55IO6Q
  • Story Text: A bomb exploded near a petrol station in northwestern Pakistan on Monday (August 17), killing six people and injuring eight. Two women and three children were among the dead.
    Police told reporters in the town of Charssada that the bomb was hidden in a box of medicine, and had been given to a driver to deliver to a nearby village.
    They added that the bomb was a time device that exploded when the driver stopped to get petrol.
    The injured were rushed to a hospital in Peshawar where they were treated.
    One man injured in the attacks describes how he was taken by surprise.
    "We were filling petrol into our car at the petrol station. All of a sudden there was a bomb blast. Some people were killed, others were injured. I don't know how it all happened," said Bahadur Khan.
    Taliban militants have claimed responsibility for the attack.
    There has been a lull in militant violence in Pakistan in recent weeks after security forces pushed back Taliban insurgents in the northwestern Swat Valley and stepped up attacks on Pakistani Taliban in the South Waziristan region.
    The military went on the offensive against Pakistani Taliban in the Swat valley in the northwest in late April, which initially triggered more bomb attacks by militants.
    After three months, the army has killed or driven out many militants from Swat in what has been widely seen as a successful operation.
    Pakistani efforts to suppress militants on its side of the border are vital for a U.S.-led bid to stabilise Afghanistan, where the Taliban have threatened to disrupt Thursday's presidential election.
    But Monday's blast and two suicide bombings in Swat on the weekend that killed five soldiers, will raise fears that the militants are re-organising.
    No top Taliban leader has been killed or captured in the Swat offensive.
    ENDS.
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