At least 18 people were killed and nearly 100 wounded in two suicide attacks in Pakistan's North West Frontier Province (NWFP) Friday. In the first attack, a powerful suicide car bomb ripped through the Peshawar headquarters of Inter Services Intelligence (ISI), Pakistan's top spy agency. The blast killed at least 10 people and left much of the fortified building in ruins. The second incident took place in Bannu. The bomber rammed his car into Bakka Khel police station building at Rangsa Road, killing seven security personnel and a prisoner. The building was completely destroyed. The police station is situated at the border of Bannu and semi tribal area. The attack on the three-storey Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) provincial headquarters in Peshawar destroyed more than half of the building, sending huge clouds of smoke spewing into 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. “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 was quoted as saying by news agencies. A wounded soldier said the bomber was in a type of vehicle that usually delivers medical supplies. “All of a sudden it appeared on the wrong side of the road and began coming toward the office,” the soldier told Reuters. “The guards opened fire but it came to the entrance of the building as the firing went on and exploded.” Schools and colleges in Peshawar were immediately closed because of the terrorist attack. The attacks coincided with a visit by US National Security Advisor James Jones who held talks with Pakistan's army chief, General Ashfaq Kayani. Friday's bombing was the first major attack outside an ISI installation since May, when a suicide attack on a police building in the city of Lahore killed 24 people.
