Bomber targets police in Pakistan

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Central/S. Asia

Saturday, 27 February 2010 12:18

By Agencies

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At least four people have been killed and dozens more injured after a suicide bomber drove his explosive-laden vehicle into a police station in northwest Pakistan.

Ajmal Khan, a government official, said the blast on Saturday in the town of Karak in the North West Frontier Province also damaged a nearby mosque.

Sajid Mohmand, a local police chief, said: "The attacker detonated his pickup van at the gate of the main police station in Karak town."

The injured were transported to a nearby hospital where some were listed in critical condition.

No one claimed responsibility, but Taliban fighters have targeted police, security forces and government offices in various parts of Pakistan in recent years to avenge military operations in the country's tribal regions.

The attack in Karak, located 200km southwest of Islamabad, the capital, came as police were on the alert for attacks on religious processions to mark the anniversary of the Prophet Muhammad's birth.

It also came a week after teams of suicide bombers attacked two police stations in the northwestern district of Mansehra, killing an area police chief and wounding several officers.

Losing ground

The Pakistani Taliban, allies of the Afghan Taliban, have lost much ground in army offensives over the past year.

The were pushed out of the Swat valley, northwest of Islamabad, and in October the army began a big offensive in the fighters' South Waziristan bastion on the Afghan border.

Pakistani action against the fighters on the border is seen as crucial for efforts to bring stability to Afghanistan, where US forces are spearheading one of Nato's biggest offensive against the Afghan Taliban.

At least 57 people were killed in Karachi in an attack on a Muslim congregation marking the holiday in 2006.