Teenage suicide bombers wreak havoc

A BURQA-CLAD female suicide bomber attacked police at the scene of an earlier explosion in northwestern Pakistan yesterday, twin strikes that killed five and broke a lull in militant violence in the country.

In the first incident yesterday, a remote-controlled bomb exploded in Peshawar’s Lahori Gate area as a police truck carrying constables about to start their shift drove by. Four police officers and a boy passing by were killed, while 22 people were wounded.

An hour later, two women approached police guarding the area. One of the females threw a grenade, then was able to partially detonate her suicide vest, said Shafqat Malik, a police officer with the bomb disposal unit. She appeared to be 16 or 17 years old, he said.