A senior General who headed the Pakistan Army’s medical services was killed, along with six others in a suicide attack. Twenty nine others were also injured when a bomber blew himself up near the general’s vehicle in the garrison city of Rawalpindi on Monday. This is the second such attack on military medical staff this month.

The attacker detonated his explosives near the staff car of Lt Gen Mushtaq Ahmed Baig, Director General of Medical Services, on Mall Road, a busy commercial area located a short distance from the army’s General Headquarters, at around 3 pm.

Baig and his driver and guard were among those killed in the blast, Interior Ministry officials told Dawn News channel.

Body parts lay strewn all over the site of the blast, which was immediately cordoned off by army personnel.

At least 10 vehicles and several shops were damaged by the powerful explosion, which was heard across the cantonment area in Rawalpindi.

It was not immediately clear whether the suicide bomber was on foot or in a car. Some reports said the bomber rammed a vehicle into the general’s staff car.

The suicide attack shattered the calm that followed last week’s crucial parliamentary polls which were swept by the opposition Pakistan People’s Party and the PML-N.

Security agencies immediately sounded an alert in Rawalpindi and Islamabad, where several top political leaders, including PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari and PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif, are holding consultations on the formation of a new government.

Police removed all cars parked in front of Zardari House, the residence of the PPP co-chairman located in an upmarket neighbourhood in the heart of Islamabad.

Rawalpindi has witnessed several suicide attacks on security forces and army personnel in the past few months. Several of the attacks have occurred in the vicinity of the high-security General Headquarters. A suicide bomber had on February 4 rammed his motorcycle into a minibus carrying medical corps staff, killing at least 10 people and injuring 30 others.

Militants attack NGO office in Pakistan, four killed

Islamabad, pti: Four persons were killed and 15 injured when a group of militants attacked the office of an international NGO in the northwestern Pakistani town of Mansehra on Monday.

Six militants stormed the office of the NGO Plan International at Mansehra in the North West Frontier Province and fired at people inside indiscriminately.

They then hurled a grenade, which triggered a fire in the building, officials said.

Four persons were killed in the firing and the explosion, officials said.

Local people pulled four bodies out of the burning building and rescued about 20 people who were trapped inside.

Rescue workers conducted a thorough search of the building to check if any more bodies were still inside, officials said.

Meanwhile, in a separate incident at Bannu in the NWFP, a businessman and his son were killed when a bomb planted in their car went off. Officials of the bomb disposal squad said a five-kg explosive device with a timer was planted in the car.