Pakistan bombs kill 10 as police targeted

BOMBINGS targeting police killed 10 people and wounded 14 in Pakistan’s volatile north-west and the capital yesterday — vivid reminders of the challenge facing the US-allied country as its lawmakers pursue a national consensus on battling terrorism.

One attack, an apparent suicide car bombing, targeted a police complex in Islamabad. It wrecked an anti-terror squad building and wounded at least four police, while lawmakers met elsewhere in the capital for a private military briefing about domestic militancy.

Meanwhile, a roadside bomb struck a prisoners’ vehicle in the Dir region near Afghanistan and killed two police, four inmates and four children.

Ten people were wounded, said a senior government official.

Al-Qaida and Taliban militants have established bases in Pakistan’s northwest region near the Afghan border, but in recent weeks, the militants have repeatedly demonstrated their reach extends farther.

In September, a suicide truck bombing in Islamabad killed 54 people and severely damaged the Marriott Hotel. Security has since been beefed up in the capital and it was especially high yesterday for the parliament session. Police were investigating how the attacker breached security in the police complex. A police official said body parts found indicated a suicide bomber.