Five police killed in Pakistan truck suicide bomb attack

A SUICIDE bomber in a pick-up truck filled with explosives attacked a police building in north-west Pakistan yesterday, killing five police officers and wounding at least 30 other people in the latest bloodshed to hit the country since the US raid that killed terror leader Osama bin Laden.

The Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for the early- morning strike in Peshawar, and promised more attacks as they and other al Qaida-affiliated groups seek to avenge the leader’s death.

Already this month, the Pakistani Taliban has claimed three other revenge attacks, including a deadly 18-hour siege of a naval base.

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The bomber’s target yesterday appeared to be the police’s criminal investigation department, but the building was also an army base and several military facilities are also nearby.

Investigators with the police counter-terrorism unit were stationed at the centre, said Fayaz Khan Toru, the top police official in north-western Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province.

At least five police officers died, and 30 people were wounded, police official Jalal Khan said. Military forces quickly sealed off much of the area as machines were brought in to sift through the huge piles of rubble left at the site.

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