PAKISTAN: Taliban Suicide Bomber Kills Six at Police Building in NW
A suicide bomber in an explosives-laden pickup truck leveled a police building in northwest Pakistan on Wednesday, killing six people and wounding 30 in the latest attack to rattle the country since the U.S. raid that killed Osama bin Laden.
The Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility and said the blast was to avenge the death of bin Laden. Already this month, the al-Qaida-allied group has claimed three other revenge attacks, including a bloody 18-hour siege of a naval base.
The target Wednesday in Peshawar appeared to be the police's criminal investigation department, but the building was in an army compound and several military facilities also are nearby, regional police chief Liaquat Ali Khan said. Counter-terrorism police were stationed at the center, another officer said.
The Pakistani Taliban is violently opposed to the United States, but also is angry at the Pakistani state for cooperating with Washington since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. The group has carried out scores of attacks on Pakistan's security establishment over the years. The Associated Press (25 May 2011)