Suicide bomber kills 8 in Pakistan – police

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (UPDATE) – A suicide bomber killed at least 8 people and wounded 45 others when he rammed his motorcycle into a bus in Pakistan’s northwestern city of Peshawar on Monday, April 29, police said.

Two staff at the Afghan consulate were among those killed in the attack, which police said targeted a top civil servant who heads the city’s administration.

Violence has spiked in the nuclear-armed country ahead of national elections on May 11 with at least 56 people killed in attacks on politicians and political parties since April 11, according to an AFP tally.

Monday’s suicide bombing targeted senior official, Sahibzada Anees, who passed by shortly before the blast in the Jehangir Abad neighborhood.

“At least eight people were killed and 45 others were wounded in the suicide bombing,” police official Mohammad Faisal told AFP.

“The commissioner, who passed just a minute before from the road, was the target of the bombing, but he escaped unhurt as the bomber missed the target and struck his motorcycle into a passenger bus,” Faisal said.

Syed Mohammad Ibrahim Khel, Afghan consul general in Peshawar, confirmed two Afghan consulate employees who were standing at a bus stop were among those killed in the attack.

Qazi Hilal worked as a business attache and Mohammad Idrees in the refugee section of the consulate, Khel said.

Police said body parts of the suicide bomber were found at the site and hospital officials confirmed the death toll. Bomb squad officials said the explosives weighed up to six kilograms (13 pounds). – Rappler.com