ISLAMABAD — A suicide bomber killed the Pakistan Army’s surgeon general in his limousine yesterday, the highest-ranking military officer to die in an attack since Pervez Musharraf joined America’s war on terror.
The lone suicide bomber targeted Lt. Gen. Mushtaq Baig’s black Toyota sedan when it stopped for a red signal on a busy road in Rawalpindi, where the army has its headquarters, officials and witnesses said.
Baig, the army’s top medical officer, died along with his driver and guard, the army said in a statement. Five civilians were also killed, the army said. The strike was a reminder of the threat from extremists just as Musharraf digs in against pressure to quit from opponents who swept last weeks’ parliamentary election.
Dozens of troops and plainclothes security officials cordoned off the area around the suicide bomb attack, where at least six other cars lay damaged. Plastic-gloved investigators gathered debris, including pieces of flesh, and put them in plastic bags.
Iqbal Ali, a witness who was walking in the area at the time of the attack, said he saw a man run into the road shortly before the explosion. Army spokesman Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas said Baig was the most senior army officer killed in an attack since Pakistan sided with Washington after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the United States.
Musharraf himself survived at least three attempts on his life before he retired as army chief in November. Abbas said it was unclear who was behind yesterday’s attack.
The government blamed “extremist elements” who were “damaging the cause of Islam” and spoiling Pakistan’s international reputation. Authorities will “not let the perpetrators succeed in their evil designs,” caretaker Prime Minister Mohammedmian Soomro said.
Also yesterday, gunmen opened fire and threw grenades inside the office of the British-based aid group Plan International in the northern town of Mansehra, killing four local staff, the group and police said. The identity and motive of the attackers were unclear.
“We have collected four bodies. There are 10 injured, it’s an emergency situation — we are trying to confirm more details,” Mohammad Ashfaq, local coordinator for Plan International, said by telephone from Mansehra.
Local hospital doctor Rizwan Shah confirmed that two dead bodies had been brought in, while two people died in hospital. “Of the first two people, there was a woman who had probably died due to the explosion, but her body had been badly charred, while the man who died had bullet wounds,” Shah said.
Police said the gunmen came in two cars and fled after the attack on the offices of the organization, which he said had been active in the area for the past 12 years in the fields of education, health and development. “We have sent search parties after the attackers and called in the fire brigade,” local police official Zulfiqar Jadoon said.
Ashfaq said the organization had not received any threats. Plan International is based in Woking in southern England. It was founded more than 70 years ago and is one of the oldest and largest international development agencies in the world, according to its website.
In a statement the organization said it had closed its operation in Pakistan after the attack in which the office building had burned to the ground. “Our primary concern is for our staff and the families of those hurt in the attack,” Plan International chief executive Tom Miller said. “We have immediately closed our operations across Pakistan and dispatched a security team to the area. Counseling will be provided for those affected by the tragedy,” he said.
