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Pakistan court attacked by suicide bombers and gunmen | Pakistan court attacked by suicide bombers and gunmen |
(35 minutes later) | |
Suspected suicide bombers attacked a court compound in the the Pakistani city of Peshawar on Monday, killing three people and taking hostages, officials said. | Suspected suicide bombers attacked a court compound in the the Pakistani city of Peshawar on Monday, killing three people and taking hostages, officials said. |
The provincial information minister, Mian Iftikhar Hussain, said 10 gunmen had made their way into the complex and exchanged fire with security forces in an apparent bid to break into a jail holding their comrades. | |
A suicide bomber who was part of the attack detonated his explosives, said Hussain, killing at least three people and wounding 27 others, he said. | |
The injured included a female judge, said police officer Mohammad Arshad Khan. The area was cordoned off, and elite commandos sent in to deal with the attackers, he said. | |
TV footage showed people running for safety with the injured being helped by others to escape. They included two police officers, a lawyer and other civilians, including one man whose clothes had been torn to shreds. | |
Police commandos and army soldiers rushed toward the complex as the injured were shifted to stretchers and taken to the hospital. | |
Peshawar is located on the border of Pakistan's semi-autonomous tribal region, the main sanctuary for Taliban militants who have been waging a bloody insurgency against the government. The militants and their allies have carried out scores of bombings in Peshawar. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the operation. Taliban militants, who are close to al-Qaida, are fighting to topple Pakistan's US-backed government and impose their radical version of Islam. They have targeted the military, security forces and civilians. | |