Suicide blast kills 15 in NW Pakistan

ISLAMABAD, Dec. 10, 2010 (Xinhua) --

A blast that reportedly killed at least 15 people in northwest Pakistan Friday afternoon is determined to be of suicide nature, said local police.

According to police sources, a van laden with explosives hit the gate of a hospital under construction in Hangu city, a place located southwest of Peshawar, capital of Pakistan's northwest Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

Apart from the 15 people reportedly killed in the blast, many others were injured. Geo News, a local Urdu TV channel, said that over 30 people were injured while another local TV channel Express said only 10 people were injured.

The huge blast has also seriously damaged many buildings nearby the hospital which is located in a densely populated area named Pass Kallay in Hangu city and many people are feared buried under the debris of the destroyed building.

No group has claimed the responsibility for the blast yet.

Editor: Zhang Xiang

Bomb attack wounds 4 security men

The Daily Times, Pakistan, Friday, December 10, 2010

HANGU:

A remote-controlled bomb attack on a security forces vehicle injured four security personnel on Thursday. Official sources said that the vehicle was on its way to Kurram Agency when the remote-controlled device was detonated in Saro Khel area of Doaba tehsil, injuring the four security personnel.

The vehicle was completely destroyed in the explosion. Meanwhile, DCO Hangu has banned entrance of Afghan refugees in territorial limits of the district that have been declared most sensitive by the KP government during Muharram. app

Suicide car bomb kills eight at Pakistan hospital

AFP, December 10, 2010

A suicide bomber blew up a car packed with explosives outside a Pakistani hospital on Friday, killing at least eight people in an apparent attack on Shi'i Muslims (in an apparent attempt to ignite a civil war between Sunnis and Shi'is in Pakistan).

It was the fourth attack in Pakistan since Monday and struck the outskirts of the northwestern town of Hangu, a flashpoint for sectarian violence that traditionally flares during the current holy month of Muharram.

"The bomber blew up his car at the hospital gate," said local police chief Abdul Rashid.

"Eight people have died and 19 are wounded," said local commissioner Khalid Khan, updating an earlier death toll of four.

Local officials said the hospital was run by a private Shiite Muslim trust, which also operated a nearby Shi'i mosque and seminary.

The attack came just two days after a teenage suicide bomber killed 17 people at a busy market in the garrison town of Kohat, which neighbours Hangu.

Pakistan has stepped up security for Muharram, which began this week and sees tensions rise between Pakistan's majority Sunni Muslim and minority Shi'i Muslim communities, and attacks on Shi'i religious parades.

Around 4,000 people have died in suicide and bomb attacks across Pakistan since government forces raided a mosque in Islamabad in 2007.

The northwest has been particularly hard hit. Pakistan last year fought to wrest back control of the northwestern district of Swat from the Taliban and are fighting against homegrown insurgents along the Afghan border.

On Monday, a pair of suicide bombers killed 43 people, attacking anti-Taliban militiamen and pro-government elders in Mohmand.

The Pakistani Taliban purportedly claimed responsibility for that attack, threatening death to anyone who forms militias against the Islamists.