The Hindu : Front Page : 12 killed in Pakistan explosion

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Dec 09, 2005

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12 killed in Pakistan explosion

WANA: Twelve persons were killed and more than 40 wounded on Thursday when a powerful blast ripped through a bazaar in Pakistan's tribal belt bordering Afghanistan, local officials said.

The bomb was planted in a hotel restaurant in Jandola, the gateway town to the troubled region of South Waziristan, and destroyed nearby weapons shops and other businesses, military and civilian officials said.

The area was already tense after a series of incidents, including the reported killing of an Al-Qaeda commander, the abduction and murder of two soldiers and a clash between militants and criminals in which 15 persons died.

``It was a terrorist attack, it was a targeted blast at a restaurant in a hotel,'' a military official told AFP on conditions of anonymity.

However the official did not say whether the blast, which happened at around 9:00 a.m. (9.30 a.m. IST), was believed to be linked to the other violence in the troubled border region.

Also on Thursday, the bodies of two Pakistani paramilitary soldiers were found, two days after they and two other soldiers disappeared in Wana, the main town in South Waziristan, military officials said.

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