Taliban bomb kills 13 near main Pakistani army HQ

A Taliban suicide bomber blew himself up near Pakistan's main military headquarters on Monday, killing 13 people just a day after the militants struck inside an army compound in the northwest of the country and killed 20 troops, officials and militants said.

The two-day barrage is among the most intense onslaughts recently against the Pakistani army as it struggles to battle insurgents in the country's volatile frontier regions.

Monday's attack took place early in the morning in the garrison city of Rawalpindi, next to the capital of Islamabad. Police official Sardar Zulfiqar said a suicide bomber struck just outside the main military headquarters.

 A retired officer and five soldiers were among those killed, according to police officer Haroon Joiya, who said the bombing also wounded 18 people.

The suicide bomber was riding a bicycle and detonated his explosives when he got close to a military checkpoint, said Joiya.

Sunday's bombing in the northwest targeted a vehicle in a convoy that was about to leave a military base in the town of Bannu and drive west to the North Waziristan tribal area, police official Inyat Ali Khan said. Pakistan's military said that attack also wounded 30 troops.

The Taliban had also claimed responsibility for Sunday's attack and called it a suicide bombing. Military officials said the blast came from an explosive planted in the vehicle, hired by the paramilitary Frontier Corps. While the army has its own transport vehicles, the paramilitary forces often hire vehicles when they need to move troops in large numbers.

The Pakistani military has been fighting for years in the tribal areas against militants who want to overthrow the government and establish a hard-line Islamic state. The tribal region is also a refuge for insurgents fighting NATO and US forces in neighboring Afghanistan.  


AP