Deadly Suicide Attack Hits Busy Neighborhood in Pakistan

 

A Taliban suicide bomber detonated his explosives in a congested neighborhood here on Tuesday after failing to breach the security cordon around the city’s Police Headquarters, killing at least five people and wounding at least 23, officials said.

“The target was the main building of Police Headquarters,” said Mushtaq Sukhera, the police chief of Punjab Province.

 

A breakaway faction of the Pakistani Taliban called Jamaat-ul-Ahrar claimed responsibility for the attack, which it described as retaliation for army operations in the country’s tribal belt.

 

“Today’s suicide attack was made in revenge for our fighters’ death in tribal areas,” said the spokesman, Ehsanullah Ehsan, according to Reuters.

 

The home minister in Punjab Province, Shuja Khanzada, speaking at the scene, told reporters that the attack had occurred as the police were recruiting employees at their headquarters.

 

The building was packed with people, but security measures prevented the bomber from reaching the entrance, and he detonated his explosives 150 feet away.

 

“My car jumped into the air, and I lost my senses for a while,” said Farooq Tariq, a human-rights activist who said he had just left another building nearby when the explosion occurred.

“Smoke was everywhere. Then I saw, about 150 feet away, people lying injured on the road,” Mr. Tariq said.