Pakistan: female suicide bomber carries out attack near police checkpost

Woman, 25, killed herself and one other with explosive-laden vest in Peshawar after 14 people injured in nearby attack A woman carried out a suicide bombing in north-west Pakistan on Thursday, killing herself and another woman, police said, adding to security challenges confronting the country. The bombing occurred near a police checkpost just yards away from where a remote-controlled bomb hit a police van less than an hour earlier, killing four policemen and a child. The woman, said to be 25 years old, was wearing an explosive-laden vest and blew herself up in the heart of the north-western city of Peshawar. “She exploded the vest as she came close to the checkpost. One policeman was wounded,” police official Tariq Omar told Reuters. He said a 60-year-old woman was also killed in the suicide bombing and police were investigating whether she was an accomplice or a passer-by. Fourteen people were wounded in the earlier attack on the police van. The bomb, concealed in a push-cart, exploded as the van passed by. Police said the attacks may have been co-ordinated. Taliban militants have waged a campaign of suicide bombings across Pakistan, killing hundreds of people in recent years. Female suicide bombing is rare in Pakistan, but any increase in the use of women for such attacks may complicate efforts by Pakistani security forces to stem the growing Islamist insurgency. Security officials are reluctant to search women in the conservative country. In December, a burqa-clad bomber killed more than 40 people in an attack on a food distribution centre in Bajaur tribal region near the Afghan border. Pakistan Global terrorism guardian.co.uk

Posted by on August 11, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.