Rawalpindi, July 2 (Inditop.com) Six people were killed when a suicide bomber blew himself up after ramming his motorcycle into a bus belonging to the A.Q. Khan nuclear research facility here in Pakistan Thursday, Geo TV reported.
About 30 people were injured in the blast when the motorcyclist hit the stationary bus near a petrol station in the busy commercial area of Chauhar Chowk.
The mangled remains of the motorcycle betrayed it was a suicide attack, police officer Nasir Durrani told reporters. He said there were government officials in the bus but did not elaborate.
Asked to explain how the suicide bomber managed to strike in the heart of the garrison city, Durrani said it was difficult to check every vehicle and motorcycle.
There were conflicting reports about the ownership of the bus.
One report said the bus belonged to the Heavy Mechanical Complex, a leading engineering goods manufacturing company at Taxila, about 30 km north of Islamabad.
“However, later on, it was said to be belonging to Dr. A.Q. Khan Research Laboratories,” Geo TV reported. The facility has spearheaded Pakistan’s clandestine nuclear programme.
A taxi driver who was near the blast site said he heard a massive explosion and could not see and hear for a while. The window-panes of his taxi were shattered.
The blast took place on a day amid speculation that Pakistan’s Taliban chief Maulana Fazlullah might have been killed in a military offensive in the Swat Valley.
