Rescue personnel worked at the site of the blast in Peshawar on Monday.
PESHAWAR, Pakistan — A suicide bomber rammed his explosives-laden vehicle into a sport-utility vehicle belonging to the United States Consulate in the northwestern city of Peshawar on Monday morning, Pakistani and American officials said, in one of the most brazen attacks against Americans in the country in recent years.
There were conflicting reports about the number and nationality of the casualties. Pakistani officials said that at least two people were killed and at least 13 were injured, including two police officers. The United States Embassy in Islamabad confirmed the attack and said in a statement that two Americans and two Pakistani employees of the consulate were injured. It denied early reports that an American had been killed.
A senior Pakistani government official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that an American backup vehicle immediately retrieved the four who were wounded inside the S.U.V. and took them to the consulate. The official said two Pakistanis were killed outside the vehicle.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, which took place in Peshawar, the provincial capital of the restive Khyber-Pakhtoonkhwa province, in a residential area called University Town. It is home to the United States consulate general in Peshawar and American diplomats, as well as workers with some international aid agencies, some of which have offices there.
Immediate suspicion pointed toward the Taliban, who have repeatedly vowed to attack Americans in the country.
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, visiting Indonesia, condemned the attack. “We pray for the safe recovery of American and Pakistani victims and once again we deplore the cowardly act of suicide bombing and terrorism that has affected so many people around the world.”
The State Department’s spokeswoman, Victoria Nuland, who is traveling with Mrs. Clinton, said the extent of the victims’ injuries was not immediately known. She said she did not have complete information on casualties outside the vehicle.
“We stand ready to work with Pakistani authorities on a full investigation, so that the perpetrators can be brought to justice,” Ms. Nuland said.
The American vehicle had left the heavily guarded and fortified consulate building and was passing a United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees guest house on Abdara Road when it was rammed by a vehicle containing at least 200 pounds of explosives, according to police officials. A thick plume of smoke rose over the site after the explosion that could be seen a mile away. The blast left a five-foot-wide crater in the road.
Firefighters evacuated the injured and doused the burning S.U.V., which carried a diplomatic-corps registration number. A partially burned American passport was recovered from the vehicle.
Police officials said that they had issued warnings of a possible terrorist attack in the city and had stepped up surveillance. The consulate was closed on Monday for the Labor Day holiday.
American diplomatic personnel in Peshawar have been the target of previous attacks, including one on the heavily guarded consulate in April 2010. |
|
