12 killed as terror strikes Multan

Islamabad: A rocket and suicide car bomb attack killed at least 12 people Tuesday in Multan, as the wave of terror continues unabated in Pakistan, police said.

The attacks come a day after twin bomb explosions in a busy market in the Punjab province's capital of Lahore left 49 people dead and a suicide bomber killed 10 people in Peshawar, capital of North West Frontier Province (NWFP).

Terror attacks in recent weeks, which authorities say are in reaction to the ongoing military operation against Taliban in the tribal areas of NWFP, have claimed hundreds of lives.

The target in Multan was the office of the Inter-Services Intelligence agency (ISI), but it was not hit while a number of other buildings around it were damaged.

Those killed in the Multan attack included security personnel and civilians, while more than 30 people were also injured, according to the local authorities.

A senior Multan police official, Mohammad Yousuf, said three assailants drove to the sensitive Qasim Bela area of Multan in a car. One got out and fired a rocket from a launcher in the direction of the ISI office, hitting other buildings that partially collapsed, the official said.

The two other attackers blew up the explosive-laden car near military police check post, causing most of the casualties, he said.

Heavy duty

Civil defence officials in Multan said the vehicle had about 500 kilogrammes of explosive.

In Lahore, the police said the death toll from the two bomb explosions that ripped through the busy Moon Market in the city had risen to 49 by yesterday evening. The dead included 13 women and seven children and the blasts also injured 180 people, the Lahore police said.

Punjab chief minister Shahbaz Sharif, who visited the site of the twin explosions, said India was involved in terrorist acts in the country. A similar allegation was earlier made by federal interior minister Rahman Malek.