PESHAWAR: A suicide bomber rammed a car filled with explosives into a US government vehicle in northwestern Pakistan yesterday, killing four Pakistanis and wounding 19 others including two Americans, officials said.
The attack in the city of Peshawar was a vivid reminder of the danger US officials face while working in Pakistan, especially in the country’s northwest where Taleban and Al-Qaeda militants are strongest. Insurgents have carried out scores of bombings in Peshawar in recent years, but attacks against American targets have been relatively rare because of the extensive security measures taken by the US government.
The bomber struck the armored vehicle after it left the US Consulate in Peshawar and as it was traveling through an area of the city that hosts various international organizations, including the United Nations, said police officer Pervez Khan, who was part of the security escort for the vehicle as it moved.
The attack killed four Pakistanis and wounded 19 other people, said senior police officer Javed Khan.
Two Americans and two Pakistanis working at the US Consulate in Peshawar were among the wounded, said State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland, who called the attack a “heinous act.”
The wounds to the Americans were not life-threatening, a US Embassy official said on condition of anonymity because the information had not been officially released.
The charge d’affaires at the US Embassy, Richard Hoagland, praised Pakistani security forces for saving the lives of the four consulate employees.
“In this dangerous world where terrorists can strike at any moment, we must all work together — Pakistanis and Americans alike — because we have a strong mutual interest in defeating terrorism,” he said.
The car driven by the suicide bomber contained 110 kilograms (240 pounds) of explosives, Pakistani police officer Abdul Haq said.
The blast ripped apart the SUV carrying the US Consulate employees and triggered a raging fire. Rescue workers and local residents rushed to put out the fire and pull away the dead and wounded. All that was left of the SUV in the end was a carcass of blackened, twisted metal.
The driver of the vehicle that was attacked, Atif Nawaz, said the force of the blast knocked him out.
“When I came to my senses, I jumped out of my car and screamed, ‘What happened?’“ said Nawaz, whose face and hands were badly burned. “An American was also with me in my car at the time, and I don’t know what happened to him.”
Irfan Khan, a local resident, said he was at a nearby shop when the blast occurred. “I quickly looked back in panic to see smoke and dust erupt from the scene,” he said. “I ran toward the scene along with others and saw two vehicles destroyed and the larger vehicle on fire.”
One dead person was on the ground near the SUV, and a foreigner was injured, said Khan.
“We put the injured man and the dead body in a private vehicle,” said Khan. “There were more injured in the surrounding area too.” ed yesterday between the ex-Soviet foes after Baku pardoned and promoted an Azerbaijani officer who axed an Armenian soldier to death.
Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev last week immediately pardoned Ramil Safarov after he was extradited from Hungary, where he had been serving a life sentence for the 2004 killing.
Safarov was also promoted to the rank of major, given a house and eight years' worth of back-pay after returning home to a hero's welcome, in defiance of assurances from Baku to Budapest that he would serve out his term in Azerbaijan.
“We don't want a war, but if we have to, we will fight and win. We are not afraid of killers, even if they enjoy the protection of the head of state,” Armenian President Serzh Sarkisian fumed in a statement late on Sunday.
Safarov hacked Armenian officer Gurgen Margarian to death at a military academy in Budapest where the servicemen were attending English-language courses organized by NATO.
His lawyers claimed in court that he was traumatized because some of his relatives had been killed during Azerbaijan's war with Armenia, and alleged that Margarian had insulted his country.
Armenia and Azerbaijan are locked in a long-running conflict over the disputed region of Nagorny Karabakh, where they fought a war in the 1990s.
Russia, which is part of the OSCE Minsk Group that is mediating in negotiations to find a peaceful solution to the Karabakh conflict, expressed “deep concern” over the extradition and pardon.
“We believe that these actions of the Azerbaijanis, as well as the Hungarian authorities, go against the efforts agreed at an international level primarily through the OSCE Minsk Group aimed at reducing tension in the region,” Russian foreign ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said in a statement.
The EU said Baku and Yerevan should refrain from exacerbating the dispute.
“We call on Azerbaijan and Armenia to exercise restraint on the ground and in public statements in order to prevent any kind of escalation of this situation,” Maja Kocijancic, a spokeswoman for EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, told a news conference in Brussels.
Yerevan on Friday cut diplomatic ties with Hungary over the pardon, while US President Barack Obama said he was “deeply concerned” about the incident.
Hungary summoned Azerbaijan's ambassador on Sunday to protest at Baku's decision after earlier saying it had been assured Safarov would serve out his term.
“Hungary finds it unacceptable and condemns the pardoning of Ramil Safarov,” foreign ministry state secretary Zsolt Nemeth told ambassador Vilayat Guliyev, the national news agency MTI reported.
Armenia-backed separatists seized Nagorny Karabakh from Azerbaijan in the war that left some 30,000 people dead.
The two sides have not signed a final peace deal since the 1994 ceasefire and there are still regular firefights along the front line. Analysts warn the frozen conflict risks slipping again into full-scale war.
Suicide bomber hits US vehicle; four killed
