Pakistan Bomb Kills U.S Diplomat

BBC News

March 2, 2006

At least four people, including a US diplomat, have been killed and many more injured in a bomb attack near the US consulate in Karachi, Pakistan.

The blast, which hurled one car into the air, tore through a car park near the US consulate in a high-security zone, police said.

"The car flew through the air and fell on the other side of a seven-foot-high wall," an unnamed policeman told AFP.

The explosion comes two days before George W Bush is to visit Pakistan.

He is currently in India, where he said the attack would not derail his visit to Islamabad, 1,600km (1,000 miles) north of Karachi.

"Terrorists and killers are not going to prevent me from going to Pakistan. My trip to Pakistan is an important trip," Mr Bush told reporters in Delhi.

He confirmed the killing of the US diplomat.

Consulate target

Pakistani security services suspect the blast was the work of a suicide car bomber.

Initial reports suggested there had been two bombs, but police now say a small second blast may have been a petrol tank exploding as a result of the first blast.

A bomb disposal expert said it was one of the most powerful explosions the city had seen. It left a crater 2m (six feet) deep.

There has been no indication yet who is behind the attack.

If it was directed at the US consulate, it could have been carried out by Islamists opposed to Mr Bush's trip, the BBC's Barbara Plett in Islamabad says.

Investigators are reportedly seeking video surveillance footage from the scene.

The unnamed policeman told AFP a bomber had rammed his car into one carrying US consulate personnel.

"One diplomat was killed and two other US diplomats were in it," he said, adding that their Pakistani driver was also killed.

About 50 people were injured in the blast.

The explosion happened in the car park of the Marriott Hotel, several windows of which were shattered by the blast.

The BBC's Aamer Ahmed Khan says most people use the rear entrance of the hotel because the road in front of the hotel is part of the US consulate's high-security zone.

"We are investigating the motives behind the blasts but apparently it coincided with the visit of Bush," Salahuddin Haider, a spokesman for the provincial government, is quoted as saying by the AFP news agency.

President Bush is due to arrive in Pakistan on Saturday. He is not scheduled to visit Karachi.

In June 2002, 12 people were killed when a suicide-bomber detonated a vehicle laden with explosives outside the same US consulate that was hit on Thursday.

Members of an Islamic militant group were convicted of carrying out that bombing and an earlier attack on the Sheraton hotel which killed 11 French engineers.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/south_asia/4765170.stm

Published: 2006/03/02 13:05:35 GMT

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