Pakistani spy agency bombed, 18 killed

At least 18 people were killed when a powerful suicide car bomb ripped through the Peshawar headquarters of Pakistan's top spy agency Friday morning at about 6:40 a.m., before the city's rush-hour.

The attack devastated the three-storey Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) provincial headquarters in the northwestern city of Peshawar.

The blast was so powerful that is had destroying more than half of the building and the noise was heard in many areas of the city and thick smoke rising from the building was seen in many areas covering the sky.

The bomber, driving a mini-truck loaded with explosives, raced down the road towards the ISI building shortly before sunrise, provincial information minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain said.

Soldiers opened fire after they spotted the truck, but the bomber ploughed into a steel barrier and blew up the vehicle outside the main gate of the ISI compound, wreaking massive destruction, he added.

More than half of the U-shaped building was destroyed by the force of the blast which devastated its outer wall, a front portion and a column.

"Seven military officials and three civilians were martyred and 60 others were injured," a military statement said.

"Up to 300 kilograms (660 pounds) of high explosives and mortars were packed into the car bomb," provincial police chief Malik Naveed said.

A military spokesman said the bomber's target was the office of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and the bomber detonated his explosives at a check post outside.

Security is tight across the country with numerous checks on roads and it was not clear how the bomber was able to approach the ISI office.

The city, near the Afghan border, has been targeted several times since the army began an offensive against the Taliban in South Waziristan last month and militants stepped up retaliatory attacks.

Meanwhile seven security personnel and prisoner were killed when a suicide bomber rammed a car packed with explosives into a suburban police station in the garrison town of Bannu, southwest of Peshawar.

- Asian Tribune -