Pakistan: Suicide blast 'was assassination attempt'

A blast in the Pakistani city of Rawalpindi occurred after a suicide bomber rammed a pick-up truck into a police vehicle.

Seven people died in the blast, which appears to have been an assassination attempt on Pakistan's president, Gen Pervez Musharraf.

An Interior Ministry official said: “Musharraf’s motorcade passed, and soon after that the explosion occurred. It appears it was an assassination attempt.”

The Interior Ministry spokesman would not confirm where the president was at the time of today’s bombing, but several witnesses said they saw his motorcade pass by moments before the blast.

One witness, Nasir Sadiqi, said: “The president’s motorcade had just passed and about half a minute later the explosion went off.”

The attack came a day after Gen Musharraf agreed to step down as army chief by the end of 2004, ending a political stalemate that had paralysed parliament and stalled the nation’s return to democracy.

Under the agreement reached with a coalition of hardline Islamic parties, Gen Musharraf will remain as president but give up the army post.

He also agreed to scale back several extraordinary powers he had given himself after taking power in a 1999 coup.