Asia-Pacific

Police: Suicide bomber kills 2 in NW Pakistan

(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-12-22 16:39

PESHAWAR, Pakistan: A suicide bomber detonated explosives outside a press club in northwest Pakistan on Tuesday, killing two people in the latest of a slew of attacks to strike the city of Peshawar since the military launched a major offensive near the Afghan border.

Police: Suicide bomber kills 2 in NW Pakistan
Pakistani policemen inspect a bomb blast site in Peshawar in November 2009. [Agencies]

Police tried to stop the attacker as he approached the press club's gate, but he was able to trigger his explosives, killing a policeman and an accountant who worked for the organization, said Shafi Ullah, a police official in Peshawar.

Four other people were injured in the attack, which blew out the press club's windows and slightly damaged the gate and several surrounding buildings, said Ullah.

Peshawar has been hit by at least seven attacks in the past two months in retaliation for a military offensive launched in mid-October against the militant stronghold of South Waziristan in Pakistan's lawless tribal area near the Afghan border. A single attack in late October in a market popular with women and children in Peshawar killed 112 people.

The Peshawar Press Club targeted in Tuesday's attack is a well-known landmark in the city, and many journalists congregate there.