A Taliban suicide bomber blew himself up near the Pakistan Army headquarters in the garrison city of Rawalpindi on Monday, killing 13 people, including six soldiers, a day after a blast inside a cantonment killed 20 troops.
The bomber, who was riding a cycle, detonated his explosives after being intercepted by soldiers in Royal Artillery Bazar, which is very close to the Army’s General Headquarters and other important military buildings.
Twenty-four others were wounded in the attack. The market, a short walk from the army headquarters, is located in one of the most secure areas of Rawalpindi, said city Police Chief Akhtar Hayat lalika.
The blast came on a day when Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had convened a special Cabinet meeting to approve a draft National Security Policy with measures to tackle terrorism. On Sunday, a blast within the cantonment of Bannu city in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province killed 20 troops and injured 30, prompting Sharif to cancel his visit to Davos, Switzerland, for the World Economic Forum.
The banned Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan claimed responsibility for the attack, with spokesman Shahidullah Shahid saying it was
carried out in response to military operations in the tribal areas and the killing of the group’s deputy chief, Waliur Rehman, in a US drone strike last year.