Global General
Suicide bombs kill 39, wound 95 in Pakistani city
(Agencies)
Updated: 2010-03-12 19:50
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LAHORE, Pakistan - A pair of suicide bombers targeting army vehicles detonated explosives within seconds of each other Friday, killing at least 39 people in this eastern city and wounding nearly 100, police said. It was the fourth major attack in Pakistan this week, indicating Islamist militants are stepping up violence after a period of relative calm.
At least six security personnel were among the dead, senior police official Chaudhry Mohammad Shafiq said.
The bombers, who were on foot, struck RA Bazaar, a residential and commercial neighborhood where several security agencies have facilities. Pakistani TV channels showed security forces swarming the area as bystanders rushed the injured into ambulances.
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"I saw smoke rising everywhere," Awan told reporters. "A lot of people were crying."
No group immediately claimed responsibility, but suspicion quickly fell on the Pakistani Taliban and al-Qaida.
The militants are believed to have been behind scores of attacks in US-allied Pakistan over the last several years, including a series of strikes that began in October and lasted around three months, killing some 600 people in apparent retaliation for an army offensive along the Afghan border.
