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Belligerent Drunk
Pakistani Taliban Detonate Car Bomb Next To U.S. Consulate Vehicles
Pakistani Taliban Detonate Car Bomb Next To U.S. Consulate Vehicles
PESHAWAR, Pakistan A Taliban car bomb struck an armored vehicle taking American government employees to the U.S consulate in northwest Pakistan on Friday, officials said, in a strike the militants said was in revenge for the raid that killed Osama bin Laden.
Two Americans suffered minor injuries, but one Pakistani passer-by was killed and at least 10 others were wounded in the attack in the city of Peshawar, officials said. The strike was the first on Westerners since the May 2 raid by American commandos on bin Laden's hideout in an army town around three hours from Peshawar.
The Pakistani Taliban, an al-Qaida-allied group behind scores of attacks in recent years, claimed responsibility.
"We say to the Americans and NATO that we will carry out more deadly attacks and we can do it," Taliban spokesman Ahsanullah Ahsan said in a phone call from an undisclosed location. "We had warned that we will avenge the martyrdom of Osama."
The Americans were traveling in two cars from their homes to the heavily protected consulate building when a car bomb exploded nearby, said U.S. Embassy spokesman Alberto Rodriguez and police in the city. The Americans from the hit car were whisked away from the scene in the second vehicle. The most serious wound was a possible broken hand, he said.
Rodriguez had initially said Friday's attack was carried out by a suicide bomber, based on accounts from eye witnesses. He later called The Associated Press to say it was a planted explosive device of some kind. Pakistani police said it was a car bomb, presumably detonated remotely.
Rodriguez declined to say what job the Americans held. The consulate is home to diplomats, security contractors and it is widely believed CIA staff hunting al-Qaida and associated groups. Both the consulate building and a previous top officer there have been attacked in the past.
The unilateral U.S. raid that killed bin Laden in Abbottabad badly damaged Pakistani-American relations already frayed since January, when a CIA contractor killed two Pakistanis in the city of Lahore. The incident prompted Pakistan to demand a reduction in U.S. military personnel in the country, and infuriated the Pakistani army over what it claims are American spies operating in the country.
Peshawar lies just outside Pakistan's tribal regions, where al-Qaida and the Taliban have bases.
Pakistani Taliban Detonate Car Bomb Next To U.S. Consulate Vehicles