Saturday, March 7, 2009

Bombings kill 11 in Badaber, Darra Adam Khel


PESHAWAR: A bomb-laden car exploded Saturday in northwest Pakistan as police tried to pull a body from it, authorities said, killing seven police and a bystander as international fears grow over security and political stability in the nuclear-armed country.Al Qaeda, Taliban and linked militants have staged numerous attacks against security forces along Pakistan's northwest border with Afghanistan, but Saturday's appeared to be the first to use a body as a lure.It occurred in the Badaber area, where residents recently evicted militants with help from police, prompting threats of retaliation.Separately, a roadside bomb struck a military convoy in the northwest town of Darra Adam Khel, killing three passers-by and wounding four troops, government official Asif Khan said.On Saturday, officers were dispatched to Badaber, which lies on the outskirts of Peshawar, after an unknown caller told them a body was in a parked car, according to Police Chief Rahim Shah.'Police went there. They found the white car. They also saw a body inside, but when they were pulling it out, the car bomb went off,' he said, calling the set-up a 'new technique.'Footage from the scene showed a police van whose front was decimated.The attack occurred just outside the Khyber tribal region, a part of Pakistan's tribal belt where military forces have staged offensives to stem militant activity.

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