Pak: 9 killed, 39 hurt in police facility blast

A suicide bomber rammed his explosives-laden vehicle into a police building in Peshawar in northwest Pakistan on Wednesday, killing at least nine people and injuring 39 others, officials said.

The building on University Road, which houses the office of the Criminal Investigation Department, was destroyed by the powerful blast. The police building is located about a kilometer from the US consulate.

Senior Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Minister Bashir Bilour confirmed that the attack was carried out by a suicide car bomber. "About 300 kg of explosives was used in the attack. The engine of the bomber's car landed 350 feet away and his body was blown to bits. Only one finger of the bomber has been found," Bilour told reporters after visiting the site of the attack.

Officials said two policemen were killed by the powerful blast, which occurred at 4.45 hours local time. Eighteen people, including a child, were injured and were taken to two nearby hospitals. Doctors described the condition of the two injured policemen as serious.

Police and rescue workers said several policemen could be buried in the rubble of the building, whose walls and ceiling collapsed after the blast. Army soldiers and policemen cordoned off the area and sealed the University Road. Footage on television channels showed heavy machinery being used to remove the debris of the police building.

No group claimed responsibility for the attack, which came barely three days after a group of Taliban fighters sneaked into a naval airbase in the southern port city of Karachi and killed 10 security personnel and destroyed two maritime surveillance aircraft.

The Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan said it had attacked the naval airbase to avenge the killing of Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in a United States raid in Pakistan on May 2.

Last week, a US Consulate vehicle convoy was targeted with a car bomb. One person was killed and over a dozen were injured though Americans were not among the dead or seriously wounded.

Nearly 90 people, most of them paramilitary recruits, were killed when two suicide bombers struck a Frontier Constabulary training centre in northwest Pakistan on May 13.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for that attack too, saying it was carried out to take revenge for bin Laden's killing.

Image: Soldiers and security officials stand near a building housing the Crime Investigation Department in a police station compound, which was attacked by a car suicide bomber | Photograph: Fayaz Aziz/Reuters