Suicide blasts kill 36 as Pakistan chaos worsens

Authorities said they suspected the blasts were part of a wave of attacks,sparked by the siege and storming of the pro-Taliban Red Mosque earlier this month, that has left more than 180 people dead.

In the southwestern industrial town of Hub, a suicide car bomber blew himself up as a convoy of Chinese citizens and local security forces passed, killing at least 30 Pakistanis but no Chinese nationals, officials said.

Hours earlier, six people were killed when another attacker ploughed his explosives-laden vehicle into the gates of a police college in the northwestern town of Hangu as recruits carried out a morning drill.

Both attacks left a trail of body parts, blood stains and mangled vehicles.

“Indirectly these attacks are a backlash reaction against the Red Mosque,” Interior Minister Aftab Sherpao told AFP.

President Pervez Musharraf, whose order for the mosque raid sparked calls from al-Qaida for a holy war, said Wednesday that Pakistan was in “direct confrontation” with Islamic militants and pledged to attack their hideouts.

Musharraf, a key ally in the US “war on terror”, faces intense pressure from Washington to launch fresh assaults against Islamic extremists, especially on an al-Qaida “safe haven” in the tribal belt bordering Afghanistan.

The attack in Hub, in the gas-rich province of Baluchistan, targeted a convoy of seven Chinese mine workers escorted by police and paramilitary troops, police said.

The force of the blast knocked over lorries and demolished nearby shops.

“Suddenly I heard a powerful blast and smoke engulfed the convoy. I heard people screaming for help and body parts littered the area,” said witness Mannan Durrani.

The blast killed 30 people including eight police officers, while the Chinese were all “safe”, said Major General Saleem Nawaz, inspector general of the paramilitary Frontier Corps.

Baluchistan police chief Tariq Khosa blamed the attack on extremists behind the spate of attacks since troops surrounded the Red Mosque on July 3. More than 100 died in the week-long siege and subsequent assault.

“Overwhelmingly it appears to be a backlash from Islamic extremists. The method of attack appears to be the same,” Khosa said.

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