Two blasts rock Pakistan; 29 killed, 38 injured

Rawalpindi (Pakistan): Two bomb blasts ripped through the city of Rawalpindi near the Pakistani Capital Islamabad on Tuesday morning, killing 29 people and injuring 38 others.

One of the bomb blasts took place on a bus at Qasim market in Rawalpindi, believed to be carrying Pakistani Atomic Energy Commission employees, killing at least 15 people and injuring 18 others, military and government officials said.

A second bomb went off on a motorbike parked in RA Bazaar in a commercial area in the city, where the Pakistani army has its headquarters, killing at least seven people, police said. The injured have been taken to a city hospital.

"The blast occured at 7.20 am (0220 GMT) and 12 to 13 people are dead," said a military official, who declined to be identified, referring to the bus blast, which went off about one kilometre from army headquarters, reported Reuters.

The power supply of the nearby areas has been suspended for now. Soldiers have cordoned off the area.

The Interior Ministry, meanwhile, has said that no intelligence reports on the blasts were available. The Capital seemed to be the prime target, said Government officials. Probe into the blasts have begun.

Pakistan has seen a surge of militant violence since July, when commandos stormed Lal Masjid in, Islambad and a peace pact broke down with militants in the North Waziristan region on the Afghan border.

The violence comes as Pakistan is entering a period of political uncertainty, with President General Pervez Musharraf, preparing to try to secure a new term and his opponents vowing to end his rule.

(With Agency inputs)

<table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="1" cellpadding="1"> <tr align="center" bgcolor="#CC3300"> <td colspan="2" class="pA5 wtxt11"><strong>Blasts in Pakistan since July 2007</strong></td> </tr> <tr align="center" bgcolor="#e5e5e5";> <td width="15%" class="btxt11">1 Sept 2007</td> <td width="59%" class="pL15 pA5 btxt11" align="left">A suicide bombing killed 4 Pakistani troops in Dera Ismail Khan near the Afghan border.</td> </tr> <tr align="center" bgcolor="#f1f1f1";> <td width="15%" class="btxt11">20 Aug 2007</td> <td width="59%" class="pL15 pA5 btxt11" align="left">A suicide car bomber struck a security post in a tribal area of Pakistan, killing 6 soldiers and wounded 18 more.</td> </tr> <tr align="center" bgcolor="#e5e5e5";> <td width="15%" class="btxt11">4 Aug 2007</td> <td width="59%" class="pL15 pA5 btxt11" align="left">A suicide attacker drove an explosive-laden car into traffic at a busy bus station in north-western Pakistan unleashing a blast that killed 9 people and wounded 35 others.</td> </tr> <tr align="center" bgcolor="#f1f1f1";> <td width="15%" class="btxt11">27 July 2007 </td> <td width="59%" class="pL15 pA5 btxt11" align="left">A suicide bomber set off a deadly blast in crowded market area near Red Mosque that killed 13 people and injured 71.</td> </tr> <tr align="center" bgcolor="#e5e5e5";> <td width="15%" class="btxt11">19 July 2007</td> <td width="59%" class="pL15 pA5 btxt11" align="left">Three suicide attacks kill at least 52 people. One attack in the southern town of Hub kills at least 30 people, including seven police officers escorting a team of Chinese engineers. <ul class="btxt11" style="padding:0px; margin:0px;"> <li class="pL10">In the northwest city of Hangu a car bomber attacked a police training centre killing seven people.</li> <li class="pL10">The third attack killed at least 15 worshippers at a mosque in an army training centre in the military cantonment area of Kohat in the northwest.</li> </ul></td> </tr> <tr align="center" bgcolor="#f1f1f1";> <td width="15%" class="btxt11">18 July 2007</td> <td width="59%" class="pL15 pA5 btxt11" align="left">Seventeen soldiers are killed when militants attack a security force convoy in North Waziristan. <ul style="padding:0px; margin:0px;"> <li class="pL10">Five militants are killed when they ambush another military convoy in North Waziristan.</li> </ul></td> </tr> <tr align="center" bgcolor="#e5e5e5";> <td width="15%" class="btxt11">17 July 2007</td> <td width="59%" class="pL15 pA5 btxt11" align="left">A suicide bomber killed 12 people outside a court in Islamabad where the country's suspended chief justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry was due to address a rally.</td> </tr> <tr align="center" bgcolor="#f1f1f1";> <td width="15%" class="btxt11">15 July 2007</td> <td width="59%" class="pL15 pA5 btxt11" align="left">16 people, most of them paramilitary soldiers, are killed in a suicide-bomb ambush on a patrol in Swat valley in NWFP.<ul style="padding:0px; margin:0px;"> <li class="pL10">A suicide bomber targets a police recruiting centre in Dera Ismail Khan in NWFP, killing 29.</li> </ul> </td> </tr> <tr align="center" bgcolor="#e5e5e5";> <td width="15%" class="btxt11">14 July 2007</td> <td width="59%" class="pL15 pA5 btxt11" align="left">A suicide car-bomber kills 24 paramilitary soldiers and wounds 29 in North Waziristan; 2 security officials are wounded in another blast in NWFP.</td> </tr> <tr align="center" bgcolor="#f1f1f1";> <td width="15%" class="btxt11">12 July 2007</td> <td width="59%" class="pL15 pA5 btxt11" align="left">Two suicide bomb attacks kill 7 people, including three policemen, in the semi-autonomous North Waziristan tribal region and NWFP.</td> </tr> <tr align="center" bgcolor="#e5e5e5";> <td width="15%" class="btxt11">6 July 2007</td> <td width="59%" class="pL15 pA5 btxt11" align="left">A suicide bomber throws himself at an army jeep, killing 6 soldiers in NWFP.</td> </tr> <tr align="center" bgcolor="#f1f1f1";> <td width="15%" class="btxt11">4 July 2007</td> <td width="59%" class="pL15 pA5 btxt11" align="left">A suicide bomber kills six soldiers and two children in North West Frontier Province (NWFP) and a roadside bomb aimed at police kills 4 civilians in another part of the province.</td> </tr> </table>

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