Two killed, 29 injured in Pakistan blast

A bomb exploded in a cinema during a screening early today in north-western Pakistan, killing two people and injuring 29 others, including a man who was suspected in the blast and arrested, police said.

The explosion struck after midnight at the cinema in Mingora, the main town in the hill resort district of Swat, about 75 miles north-east of Peshawar, said local deputy superintendent of police Kalam Khan. The area is not known to have active Islamic militants or a history of sectarian violence.

It was not known how many people were inside the cinema when the bomb exploded under a seat.

The two men died of their injuries at a hospital. At least three of the 29 injured were in serious condition while many others were treated for minor injuries at a hospital in Mingora, Khan said.

No one immediately claimed responsibility for the blast, and police were investigating the motive.

But Khan said a Pakistani man who was injured at the cinema was suspected in the attack and arrested, and that police seized bomb-making material from him. He did not identify the man.

“He was carrying wires and detonators when he was searched,” Khan said.

Another Mingora police official said authorities did not believe the cinema was targeted because of the movie it was showing – the Pashtu-language For Your Two Eyes – saying there was nothing controversial about it.

“They were showing an action movie based on a love story, we don’t see anything uncommon about it,” Muzakir Shah said.

Extremist groups from Sunni and Shiite Muslim sects in Pakistan carry out deadly attacks against each other, but the conservative Swat district is not known to have such sectarian violence.

Islamic militants angered by President Gen. Pervez Musharraf’s alliance with the US-led war against terrorism are blamed for bomb explosions, attacks against security forces and foreigners after the September 11 attacks in the United States.