Three dead in northwest Pakistan suicide attack
PESHAWAR: A suicide bomber yesterday hit a vehicle belonging to an Afghan Muslim scholar in northwest Pakistan, killing three people including the cleric’s guard and driver, officials said.
The bomber detonated his explosive jacket close to Hajji Hayatullah’s car as worshippers were leaving a mosque following Friday prayers in the city’s congested Faqirabad neighborhood, local police chief Liaquat Ali said. “The bomber blasted Haji Hayatullah’s car from the right side, killing the driver and Hayatullah’s guard,” he said adding that a third person died of his injuries in hospital and three others were wounded. Senior police officer Khalid Hamdani confirmed the attack and the casualties.
“It was a suicide attack, the target seems to be Hayatullah who had not yet boarded the vehicle,” he said. The bomber carried about six kilograms of explosives, he said adding that the vehicle was badly damaged.