Twin blasts kill 15, injure 30 NW Pakistan
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At least 15 people, including policeman and children, were killed and more than 30 other injured on Thursday in twin bomb blasts near a police base in a main city in Pakistan's northwest, police and locals said.
Local residents told Xinhua that 15 people were killed in the back-to-back blasts in Bannu, a main town in Pakistan's North West Frontier Province (NWFP), near its tribal belt. They said some children were also killed in the incidents.
A local police officer told Xinhua that more than 10 people were killed in the blasts, adding the two blasts took place on the same scene where policemen and some representatives of media were standing.
Police said at least nine policemen were killed and about 25 policemen and civilians were injured including the district police officer Iqbal Marwat. Hospital sources said Iqbal Marwat was seriously injured and maybe shifted to a hospital in Peshawar, the NWFP capital city.
Local hospital sources said that at least 30 injured were rushed into the hospitals. However, the sources declined to reveal how many of them were seriously injured.
Local residents said that some prayers in a nearby mosque were also injured in the blast.
Eyewitnesses said there were two blasts and the first one was suicidal but police said so far the nature of the explosions is not ascertained. They said Bannu city was sealed and the police line was condoned off shortly after the blasts.
According to initial reports, when the blasts took place at least 50 police officers were present inside the police line, near a local market and a residential area. A petrol pump is also situated near the site. More casualties are feared.
Residents said that the blasts, along with firing, were so powerful and were heard in far areas and the windowpanes of nearby buildings were smashed. People said they saw thick smoke in the air after the blasts were heard.
No group claimed responsibility for the attacks and the investigation into the blasts is going on.
In Bannu, police is specifically victimized. Police stations and patrolling policemen on roads have been frequently targeted. The Bannu district lies near sectarian-torn district DI Khan on one side and South Waziristan, the hometown of Tehrek-e-Taliban Pakistan leadership, as well as North Waziristan on the other side.
