Pakistan car bomb targets US consulate cars

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Pakistan car bomb targets US consulate cars

By Lehaz Ali (AFP) – 55 minutes ago

PESHAWAR, Pakistan — A car bomb targeted US consulate vehicles in Peshawar on

Friday, killing one person and wounding 11 others in the first attack on

Americans in Pakistan since Osama bin Laden was killed.

A US embassy spokesman said no US personnel were seriously wounded in the

rush-hour attack in the volatile northwestern city, which runs into the tribal

belt that Washington has branded a global headquarters of Al-Qaeda.

Police said two foreigners were lightly wounded and one of the armoured vehicles

was damaged by what a bomb disposal official said were 50 kilos of low-grade

explosives packed into a car and detonated by remote-control.

" Two vehicles of the US consulate were on their way to the consulate when they

were attacked, " US embassy spokesman Alberto told AFP.

" One vehicle was damaged. There is no death among our personnel and there are no

serious injuries, " he added.

" Only one car was hit. In that car there were US citizen diplomats and a

Pakistani driver, " he said.

Senior police officer Liaquat Ali said a local man riding on a motorbike was

killed and 11 others wounded, including two foreigners, although not seriously.

He said that the two foreigners received " minor injuries " and had been

discharged from hospital.

Pakistani television showed a vehicle damaged by the explosion, which hurled it

against an electricity pole. Police confirmed it was an armoured car.

Such vehicles are well-known in Pakistan to be favoured by Western diplomats and

senior UN mission employees.

Hukam Khan, in charge of the bomb disposal squad in Peshawar, said 50 kilos of

explosives were planted in a car and detonated by remote-control.

" They were not good quality explosives, that's why there was relatively little

damage, " he told AFP.

There was no immediate claim for the attack, but last Friday the Pakistani

Taliban claimed a devastating bomb attack that killed 89 people outside a police

training centre in the northwest.

A spokesman said the bombings were the first revenge for Osama bin Laden's death

and threatened further attacks on Pakistani and US targets.

Friday's blast came one day after US envoy Marc Grossman held talks with

Pakistan's leadership in Islamabad, stepping up efforts to smooth over a crisis

sparked by the US Navy SEALs raid that killed the Al-Qaeda chief on May 2.

In the second high-profile American visit to Pakistan in days, the envoy for

Afghanistan and Pakistan held talks with President Asif Ali Zardari, Pakistan's

army chief General Ashfaq Kayani and other senior cabinet ministers.

US Senator Kerry visited on Monday and later insisted that Pakistan was

stepping up efforts to battle extremists and help stabilise Afghanistan, where

US-led troops are trying to end a 10-year Taliban insurgency.

If further high-profile Pakistani-US talks go well, US Secretary of State

Hillary Clinton is expected to decide " when and if " to visit the country.

Pakistan's civilian and military leaders were left angry and embarrassed over

the unilateral US raid that killed Al-Qaeda's chief, who had been living,

possibly for years, in a military academy town two hours' drive from Islamabad.

It rocked the country's seemingly powerful security establishment, with its

intelligence services and military widely accused of incompetence or complicity

over the presence of bin Laden in a suburban house in the city of Abbottabad.