A Taliban suicide bomber killed eight people outside a key Pakistani airforce facility on Friday, with officials quick to deny suggestions the target was linked to the country’s nuclear program.
The bomber detonated explosives strapped to his body at a checkpoint outside the Pakistan Aeronautical Complex in Kamra, some 75 kms (45 miles) northwest of the capital, Islamabad.
There were also police and hospital reports of a blast in the northwest city of Peshawar that wounded seven people, but further details were not immediately available.
The attacks come as the army continues a major offensive against Pakistani Taliban militant strongholds in South Waziristan, near the Afgfhan border.
The offensive has raised fears the insurgents will step up a suicide bombing campaign on urban targets. Over 150 people have been killed in a series of brazen attacks in the past few weeks.
“Eight people were killed and 13 were wounded, three of them seriously,” said Shaukat Sultan, head of the main government hospital in Kamra, scene of Friday’s airbase attack.
Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani told a cabinet meeting on Wednesday that the country’s nuclear infrastructure was safe and faced no threat from Taliban militants, and an airforce official was quick to dispel suggestions on Friday that the Kamra facility was linked to the weapons program.
“It’s nonsense. It’s rubbish,” the airforce official told Reuters.
Friday’s attack came a day after an army brigadier and his driver were killed in a drive-by shooting in Islamabad, while at least six people, including two suicide bombers, died in twin attacks at an Islamic University in the capital on Tuesday.
MORE ATTACKS
Analysts have warned of the possibility of more attacks as the militants come under pressure in Soputh Waziristan, with the Taliban hoping bloodshed and disruption will cause the government and ordinary people to lose their appetite for the offensive.
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