13 dead as Pakistan bus, hospital bombed

Posted 1 hour 34 minutes ago

Pakistani volunteers search a damaged bus ripped apart by a motorcycle bomb attack. (AFP: Asif Hassan)

A hospital in Pakistan's commercial capital Karachi treating victims of an earlier bus bombing that killed 12 people was itself rocked by an explosion that killed at least one person, a provincial cabinet minister said.

A suspected suicide bomber on a motorcycle killed 12 Shiite Muslims on a crowded bus in Pakistan's biggest city, and hours later a second bomb exploded at a hospital treating those injured in the bus blast.
"I have information that people were killed and injured in the second bomb blast. One body is lying there on the spot and some 10 people were injured," Saghir Ahmad, health minister for Sindh province, told private television channel ARY.
"We have started the rescue work," he added.
A doctor confirmed the second blast.
"An explosion occurred at the Jinnah hospital near the emergency ward, where the bodies and injured were being taken," said Doctor Mushtaq Ahmad.
"I heard a large blast. People are running all over the place. Casualties are feared," he added.
Earlier, senior police officer Ghulam Nabi said of the initial bombing: "Initial reports suggest a bus carrying Shiites was hit by a motorbike laden with explosives."
"We have 12 dead and up to 40 wounded. Some of the wounded are in critical condition," said Kaleem Sheikh, senior doctor at Karachi's main hospital.
The bus attack had all the trademarks of a Taliban operation.
The bomb was planted on a motorcycle that rammed into a bus.
"It was an IED (improvised-explosive device) in a motorcycle, which rammed into a bus. Several people have been injured," city police chief Waseem Ahmad told reporters.
Dozens of enraged Shiites gathered at the scene of the blast and some scuffled with police.
"A motorcyclist exploded near a bus ahead of us. We took off and rescued wounded," local Zafar Abbas said.
"It's cruel. They are not Muslims. They are not human. The government is responsible because it has failed to provide us security and control terrorists."
The Pakistani Taliban have carried out waves of bombings at crowded markets and army and police facilities, killing hundreds of people since October in a bid to topple the pro-American government of unpopular President Asif Ali Zardari.
Karachi has been largely free of Islamist violence over the past couple of years, but a bomb at a minority Shiite Muslim procession in late December fuelled concern that the militants were expanding their fight to the city.
Sustained violence in Karachi, which has recently witnessed heightened political tension, could further dampen investor confidence in the sluggish economy.
On Wednesday the Al Qaeda-backed Taliban claimed responsibility for a high-profile bomb attack that killed three US Special Operations soldiers near a girls' school in north-west Pakistan, and threatened more attacks on Americans.
The violence along the major street is bound to raise more questions about the effectiveness of security crackdowns on Al Qaeda-backed Taliban insurgents at a time when Washington wants Pakistan to help stabilise neighbouring Afghanistan.