Suicide Bomber Hits Pakistani Capital, 1 Dead

Posted June 13th, 2011 at 2:10 pm (UTC-5)
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A suicide bomber struck an Islamabad bank on Monday, killing one person in the first such attack in the Pakistani capital in more than a year and a half.

Police say the attacker detonated his explosives after being stopped from entering the bank by a security guard. The guard was killed in the blast and at least four other people were wounded.

Witnesses reported hearing a loud explosion, which shattered glass and badly damaged the bank and nearby vehicles.

No group has claimed responsibility, but the Pakistani Taliban has vowed attacks in retaliation for the U.S. raid that killed Osama bin Laden last month in a garrison town near Islamabad.

Monday's attack was rare in the heavily protected capital and the first since December of 2009, when a bomber attacked navy headquarters in Islamabad, killing one person.

In northwest Pakistan, security officials say a roadside bomb killed three Pakistani soldiers in a tribal area bordering Afghanistan on Monday.

The blast wounded at least four other soldiers in the Ladha area of South Waziristan – a known stronghold of Taliban and al-Qaida-linked militants.

Elsewhere in the northwest, local officials say a bomb blast in the Khyber tribal region destroyed at least four trucks carrying fuel for NATO forces in neighboring Afghanistan. The trucks were parked at the main border crossing in Torkham. There were no reports of casualties.

In Pakistan's southwest, a bomb planted on a bicycle exploded in Quetta, the capital of Baluchistan province, wounding two people.

Pakistani leaders discussed counterterrorism and regional stability during talks with U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Thomas Nides in Islamabad Monday.