ISLAMABAD, 30 January 2007 — Three people, including a suicide bomber, were killed in a northwestern Pakistani town yesterday.
A man aged between 17 and 20 years targeted a police post in the town of Dera Ismail Khan, located 260 km southwest of Islamabad, local police officials told the Geo news channel and other media.
The suicide bomber set off a device killing himself, a policeman and a passer-by after police stopped him at a checkpoint, a doctor and security officials said.
The blast — the third suicide attack in Pakistan since Friday — came as police across the country were on high alert for sectarian attacks during Shiite ceremonies this week.
The government had declared 40 districts “very sensitive” during Muharram and Dera Ismail Khan was one of them.
Local police officer Aslam Khattak said the suspect wanted to enter the city and target a Shiite procession. “He was clad in a chaddar (shawl) and was trying to get past the check post quickly.
“The attacker refused to be checked and detonated his explosives,” said Khattak. Seven people, including two policemen, were wounded. One policeman was in critical condition, he said.
Security officials in the town said earlier six people had been arrested on suspicion of planning suicide attacks in late Sunday raids and some explosives seized from the suspects. The arrests were made on a tip-off and those arrested were in possession of explosive vests designed for suicide attack, the ARY private news channel said.
In a separate incident yesterday, 13 people were hurt when two rockets were fired outside a Shiite center in Bannu town, said an official.
On Friday, a suicide bomber killed himself and a guard outside the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad. The next day a suicide bomber killed 15 people including a city police chief in the northwestern city of Peshawar.
