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Pakistan Bombing Kills Civilians Militant Attacks on Pakistani Military Take Heavy Toll
(about 3 hours later)
PESHAWAR, Pakistan — Sixteen people were killed, including a woman and two children, and 32 were wounded Sunday when a vehicle packed with explosions blew up just outside the capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province in northwest Pakistan, a senior administration official said. ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Pakistani militants targeted security forces in two separate attacks in northwestern Pakistan on Sunday, in violence that left at least 20 people dead, including 16 civilians, and underscored the broad array of challenges facing the new government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.
The bomb exploded Sunday afternoon as a convoy of the paramilitary Frontier Corps was passing along the main Indus Highway in Badaber on the southern fringe of the provincial capital of Peshawar. “It looks like the F.C. convoy was the target,” said the deputy commissioner for Peshawar, Javed Marwat. Mr. Sharif hosted Prime Minister David Cameron of Britain in Islamabad on Sunday, in the first major visit by a Western leader since the Pakistani elections in May. But even as the two focused on helping Pakistan’s economy, pledging to expand economic cooperation and trade, violence again snared the headlines.
Mr. Marwat said the vehicle was parked near the police station and in a market area that is always crowded. All of the dead were civilians. The first attack took place Sunday afternoon on the southern edges of Peshawar, the provincial capital of Khyber Pakhtunkwa Province, when a convoy of the Frontier Corps militia was hit by a car bombing. The bomb exploded in the afternoon as a convoy of the paramilitary force was passing along the main Indus Highway in Badaber neighborhood. The explosive-laden vehicle was parked along the main highway in the region, near a police station and in a market area that is always crowded, officials said.
The wounded, including three members of the Frontier Corps, were taken to hospitals in Peshawar, and the police began to search the area, Mr. Marwat said. No arrests had been made by Sunday evening, he said. Several cars and shops were also damaged. Though the Frontier Corps convoy appeared to be the target, all of those killed by the militants — 16 people — were civilians, according to the deputy commissioner for Peshawar, Javed Marwat. The wounded, including three members of the Frontier Corps, were taken to hospitals in Peshawar. Several cars and shops were also damaged.
No group has claimed responsibility for the attack, but a security official said militants operating in the adjoining semiautonomous tribal region could be involved. The second attack took place in North Waziristan, the semi-autonomous tribal region where militants of all stripes -- local and foreign -- have taken refuge. A military convoy on the move there was struck by a roadside explosive, killing four soldiers and wounding at least 19 people, officials said.
An official of the Bomb Disposal Squad said terrorists had packed the explosives with shrapnel and ball bearings to cause the maximum damage. The Pakistani military has balked at American pressure in recent years to launch a military operation in North Waziristan, and army troops deployed in some areas there mostly stay inside their bases and encampments.
In another attack, a roadside bombing in the North Waziristan tribal region killed three soldiers and wounded seven. However, military convoys regularly move on what are called Road Opening days, when the authorities impose a curfew to help clear the road and ensure safe passage. “Curfew was announced last night, so some militants might have planted the bomb and waited for the convoy to move,” one Pakistani security official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. “All they needed was to push a button, even if there was curfew.”
“A military convoy was on its way from Miram Shah, headquarters of the North Waziristan tribal region, when it was hit by a roadside bombing,” a security official said. There were no immediate claims of responsibility of the attacks, and officials said that militants in the semiautonomous tribal regions straddling the border with Afghanistan, were most likely involved.
Military convoys move on what is called Road Opening Days, when the authorities in the volatile tribal region along the border with Afghanistan impose a curfew to help clear the road and ensure safe passage. “Curfew was announced last night, so some militants might have planted the bomb and waited for the convoy to move,” the official said. “All they needed was to push a button, even if there was curfew.” Back in Islamabad, Mr. Sharif and Mr. Cameron said both countries would work together to curb militancy, including cooperative measures under which Britain would offer more expertise and equipment to help counter the Taliban’s improvised explosive devices.
Both leaders also discussed the war in Afghanistan, and the coming Western military withdrawal. The shift has major implications for the Pakistani government, which is concerned about ensuring its influence in the country, as well as for militants who work on both sides of the border.
“I have assured Prime Minister Cameron of our firm resolve to promote the shared objective of a peaceful and stable Afghanistan,” Mr. Sharif said.

Salman Masood reported from Islamabad, and Ismail Khan from Peshawar.