Suicide blast at court kills 10 in Pakistan
A suicide bomber struck outside a court in Pakistan's Peshawar yesterday, killing ten people and wounding dozens more in the latest attack in a city beset by Taliban violence, officials said.
Peshawar, capital of the troubled northwest, has borne the brunt of Taliban attacks avenging military offensives against them across the region, with more than 270 people killed in bombings in the city since early October.
Bashir Bilor, a senior provincial minister, said a man wearing explosives rode up to a district court building in the centre of the city in a rickshaw.
"He got down and tried to enter the building but could not do so because of our security arrangements," he said, adding that the severed head of the bomber has been found about 70 metres (yards) away from the blast site.
Zafar Iqbal, a senior doctor at Peshawar's main Lady Reading hospital, said ten people including a policeman were killed and dozens more injured.
"Three more seriously injured people have expired. We have now 10 dead and 44 wounded in the hospital," he told AFP.
Local television showed images of blackened sandals lying in pools of water on a charred road. Smoke and flames filled the streets as ambulances rushed to the scene and fire engines aimed hoses on smouldering cars.
"I was sitting outside the court when I heard a deafening blast. It was so severe that I fell on the ground and when I stood up I saw smoke and fire at the gate," lawyer Rashid Hussain told AFP.
"I rushed to the spot and saw dead and injured laying on the ground. It was really horrible, there were body parts and the injured were crying for help."
Senior bomb disposal official Tanveer Iqbal said that about six to seven kilogrammes (13 to 15 pounds) of explosives were used.
Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani swiftly condemned the bombing, deploring "the loss of innocent lives", a statement from his office said.
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