Suicide bomber kills 35 near Pakistan’s capital

RAWALPINDI – A suicide bomber killed 35 people outside a bank near Pakistan’s capital yesterday, as the UN said spreading violence has forced it to start pulling out some expatriate staff and suspend long-term development work in areas along the Afghan border.

Islamist insurgents have carried out numerous attacks in Pakistan in recent weeks, killing more than 300 people in retaliation for an army offensive in the Pakistani Taliban’s northwest stronghold of South Waziristan. Several UN personnel have been among those killed, and the group’s decision to suspend development work could imperil Western goals of reducing extremism by improving Pakistan’s economy.Yesterday’s attack in Rawalpindi, a garrison city just a few kilometres from Islamabad, occurred as many people waited outside the National Bank on a pay day to collect salaries.The bank is close to the army’s headquarters, and a majority of the people waiting in line were from the military, said Mohammad Mushtaq, a soldier wounded in the attack. Militants raided the headquarters last month, a 22-hour standoff that left 23 people dead.’I was sitting on the pavement outside to wait for my turn,’ said Mushtaq, who suffered a head injury. ‘The bomb went off with a big bang. We all ran. I saw blood and body parts everywhere.’Four soldiers were killed in the attack and nine were wounded, said the army’s chief spokesman, Major Geneneral Athar Abbas. In total, 35 people were killed, said Information Minister Qamar Zaman Kaira. Several dozen were wounded.One panicked father near the bank when the explosion occurred said he was unable to find his son in the aftermath.’I parked my car in the bank car park, and my child was sitting inside,’ Mohammad Saleem told AP Television News. ‘Now they’re not giving me permission to go and look, and I don’t know where my child is.’No group claimed responsibility for the bombing, but that is not unusual in attacks that kill many civilians. – Nampa-AP