13 dead, 29 injured in Rawalpindi suicide blast

ISLAMABAD (Pajhwok): A suspected suicide bombing killed 13 people, including eight security officials and three children, near the Pakistan’s army general headquarters (GHQ) in the garrison city of Rawalpindi in Punjab province on Monday, officials said.

The army’s Inter-Services Public Relations in a statement said the bombing that took place near the GHQ around 8am injured a further 29 people. The dead included eight security officials, three children and two other civilians, the ISPR statement said.

Top government official in Rawalpindi Sajid Zafar Dall said the attacker was possibly riding a bicycle with 10 kilograms of explosives. The injured have been rushed to hospital and 10 of them were said to be critical, he said.

The Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan has claimed responsibility for the attack that came a day after 20 people were killed and as many injured in a remotely controlled bomb blast in northwestern town of Bannu in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

TTP spokesman Shahidullah Shahid said the attack in Rawalpindi was in retaliation for the army’s operations against militants in tribal regions near the Afghanistan border.

Dall said the attack in a busy marketplace occurred when children were going to school, adding the bomber was possibly on a bicycle and he then approached the target on foot.

Senior police official Haroon Joya told reporters a teenager dressed as a garbage collector on a bicycle detonated his explosives after being stopped at a checkpoint

Forensic investigators were examining evidence collected from the scene, including the bomber’s remains.

The explosion shattered windows and damaged vehicles parked nearby, and could be heard more than a mile away.

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