Monday, January 20, 2014

Pakistan: Death toll in Rawalpindi suicide blast rises to 13, TTP claims responsibility

http://dunyanews.tv/
"The attack was carried by one of our suicide bombers" TTP spokesperson told AFP.
At least thirteen people including six security personnel have been killed in a suicide blast in a market close to Pakistan's military headquarters on Monday.
17 people including three school children were also wounded in the blast which tore through RA bazaar in Rawalpindi, Islamabad's twin city, at around 7.45 am (0245 GMT). Sajid Zafar Dall, the top government official in Rawalpindi, confirmed the blast was a suicide attack. "The attack occurred when children were going to school. Our initial assessment is that the bomber was possibly on a bicycle and he then approached the target on foot."
It came a day after the Pakistani Taliban killed 25 soldiers and wounded 30 others in a suicide bombing in the northwestern town of Bannu.
The banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) movement has been waging a bloody campaign since 2007, carrying out countless bomb and gun attacks, often on military targets. The military headquarters came under attack in 2009, when militants laid siege to the complex for 24 hours. A total of 19 people died including eight militants.
Major naval and air force bases have also been targeted in recent years.
A senior Pakistani general was killed in a blast last September along with two other soldiers in an attack claimed by the Taliban.
TTP spokesman Shahidullah Shahid claimed the attack as payback for a deadly military raid on Lal Masjid in Rawalpindi in 2007. "It was carried by one of our suicide bombers to take revenge for the Red Mosque massacre," he told AFP. "We will continue our struggle against the secular system."

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