Top Army General among 8 killed in Pak suicide blast

Islamabad: A senior General of the Pakistan Army and seven other persons were killed and nearly 30 injured when a suicide bomber blew himself up near the military officer's vehicle in the garrison city of Rawalpindi on Monday, the second such attack on defence medical staff this month.

The teenage attacker detonated his explosives near the staff car of Lt Gen Mushtaq Ahmed Baig, the Director General of Medical Services, on Mall Road, a busy commercial area located close to the army's General Headquarters, at 2.55 pm.

Baig, his driver and a guard were killed instantly when the bomber blew himself up after the general's car stopped at a traffic light, Interior Ministry spokesman Javed Iqbal Cheema said.

"The suicide bomber was waiting on the footpath next to the (traffic) signal. He came closer to the vehicle (after the) traffic had stopped and exploded himself near the general's car," Cheema said.

Some eyewitnesses said the bomber was disguised as a beggar and had been seen loitering on the footpath minutes before the blast. Cheema said investigators had found some of the remains of the bomber, including his legs, and it was believed he was about 15 to 18 years old.

Baig, the army's senior-most medical officer, was the highest ranking security forces personnel to be killed in a wave of deadly suicide attacks that have targeted the armed forces.

The attack also shattered the calm that had followed last week's crucial parliamentary polls which were swept by the opposition PML-N and PPP. PML-N spokesman Ahsan Iqbal said President Pervez Musharraf should own responsibility for his "flawed" policy for tackling terrorism and step down.

This would allow the newly elected government to "rethink the entire strategy to combat terrorism" so that Pakistan remained safe, he said.

In a separate attack on security forces in the restive southwestern Baluchistan province, three Pakistani soldiers were killed and four others wounded when suspected Baloch rebels triggered a blast targeting an army vehicle.

The explosion took place in Lehri town in Dera Bugti district of the province. Baloch rebels in the resource-rich province have been fighting for autonomy and greater share in royalties from the natural gas fields in the region.