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Peshawar/Islamabad:
Two powerful blasts, including one triggered by a suicide bomber, ripped through a police complex killing at least 12 people, many of them policemen, and injuring over 20 in the restive Bannu district in northwest Pakistan on Thursday.
A suicide bomber blew himself up near a gate at the heavily guarded police lines in Bannu at around 6.40 pm and the second blast occurred minutes later near a hospital within the complex, witnesses said.
Hospital officials were quoted by TV news channels as saying that at least a dozen people, many of them policemen, were killed and over 20 others injured. Most of the casualties were caused by the second blast. State-run PTV reported that district police chief Iqbal Marwat was among the injured.
The nature of the second blast could not immediately be ascertained. Security forces cordoned off the area and closed roads.
Rescue workers and ambulances rushed to the site as smoke rose over the police lines, witnesses said.
The sound of gunfire could be heard in footage aired by TV news channels. Witnesses said policemen had opened fire in panic after the blasts.
Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani condemned the attack and ordered an inquiry into the incident. He deplored the loss of lives in the incident.
A suicide bomber blew himself up near a gate at the heavily guarded police lines in Bannu at around 6.40 pm and the second blast occurred minutes later near a hospital within the complex, witnesses said.
Hospital officials were quoted by TV news channels as saying that at least a dozen people, many of them policemen, were killed and over 20 others injured. Most of the casualties were caused by the second blast. State-run PTV reported that district police chief Iqbal Marwat was among the injured.
The nature of the second blast could not immediately be ascertained. Security forces cordoned off the area and closed roads.
Rescue workers and ambulances rushed to the site as smoke rose over the police lines, witnesses said.
The sound of gunfire could be heard in footage aired by TV news channels. Witnesses said policemen had opened fire in panic after the blasts.
Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani condemned the attack and ordered an inquiry into the incident. He deplored the loss of lives in the incident.
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