Hair salons and music shop bombed

Khar: Two bombs targeting barber shops and a music store exploded in northwestern Pakistan, where militants have issued threats against shaving beards and selling music, a security official said yesterday.

One bomb exploded late on Saturday while the other went off before dawn on yesterday in Inayat Kalay, a market town in Bajaur tribal region, said Muwaz Khan, a government security official in the region.

A shop selling music cassettes and CDs and two barber shops were damaged in the explosions but there were no casualties because the shops were closed and no one was inside, Khan said.

Offence

Last month, pamphlets were found in Inayat Kalay bearing threats of harm against barbers if they shave their customers' beards, an act extremists consider an offence against Islam.

The Taliban-style warnings by suspected militants believed to operate in the region prompted Inayat Kalay barbers to put up signs urging their customers not to insist on getting a shave. Similar threats have been issued against music shops demanding they close down, Khan said.