Two Pakistani intelligence officers killed in blast

Two Pakistani Intelligence Bureau officers and a bomber were killed in consecutive blasts in northern Pakistan, police said today.

An Intelligence Bureau assistant director and an inspector, who were wounded in one of the blasts, died in a hospital in Kohat, 175 km (105 miles) west of Islamabad, they said.

Two crude bombs exploded in a public park in a military neighbourhood of Kohat.

"The man who was planting the explosives was killed in the first blast," said military spokesman Major-General Shaukat Sultan.

The second, some minutes later, fatally wounded the two intelligence officials.

Senior military officers live in houses overlooking the park.

No group claimed responsibility. But in the past, security forces have blamed Islamist extremists and al Qaeda-linked militants for such attacks.

Hardliners and militant groups are furious over the government's support for the U.S.-led war on terror and crackdown on al Qaeda and its sympathisers in the country.