Bombings killed 10 people and wounded at least 14 in Pakistan Thursday, including an attack at a police complex in the capital the same day lawmakers huddled for a private briefing on the militant threat facing the country. The other blast was in the nation's volatile northwest, where Al-Qaida and Taleban militants have established bases near the Afghan border. Four children, two police and four prisoners died when a roadside bomb exploded under a prison vehicle in the Dir region, government official Sher Bahadur Khan said. Initial reports indicated a school bus was caught in the blast, but others said the children were walking. Ten people were wounded. Meanwhile in Islamabad, an apparent suicide car bombing severely damaged an anti-terror squad building and wounded at least four policemen in the heavily guarded Police Lines area. The explosion occurred just moments after a man delivered sweets to the facility, and police were examining whether the events were linked. Some body parts were found that might belong to a suicide bomber, Islamabad Police Chief Asghar Gardaizi said. The latest incident in Islamabad occurred amid tight security for the lawmakers' briefing in parliament. No one immediately took responsibility for the attack. Ambulances streamed into the smoke-filled police complex after the blast. The front section of the three-story, red-brick building was destroyed and a staircase had collapsed. Shoes were strewn among the rubble. Gardaizi said at least four people were hurt; others put the wounded toll as high as nine. Police commando Gulshan Aftab said he was sitting at a nearby barrack when a “Suzuki car hit the anti-terror squad barrack and exploded with a big bang.” He said the main building was largely empty because many officers were guarding Parliament and other areas of Islamabad. “About 10 people were inside at the time, and we saw six or seven injured,” he said. Gardaizi said a man in a green car had driven up to the building, entered and handed the boxes of sweets to a person inside. He later left the building, and within moments, the explosion occurred, Gardaizi said. It was unclear what happened to the delivery man. Gardaizi said authorities would investigate why a civilian vehicle was allowed in the area. The attacks in Islamabad and Dir drew condemnation from the prime minister. Pakistan's military says suicide attacks have killed nearly 1,200 people since July 2007, most of them civilians.
