Suicide bomber targets U.S. consulate vehicle in Pakistan

PanARMENIAN.Net - A suicide bomber rammed his vehicle into another near a building occupied by the UN refugee agency in the Pakistani city of Peshawar on Monday, Sept 3, killing five people, including two Americans, a regional information minister and police said.

According to Reuters, there was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, which left a crater along a busy street. Firemen extinguished flames of a vehicle that was mangled and blackened from the blast.

The two Americans worked in the U.S. consulate, Regional Information Minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain told reporters. He said five people were killed and that the Americans had been moving across the city with security guards.

The U.S. consulate in Peshawar had no immediate comment.

Television stations repeatedly broadcast an image of a U.S. passport at the scene, its corners burned by the flames.

Pakistan's Taliban, who are close to al Qaeda, are blamed for many of the suicide bombings across Pakistan, a strategic U.S. ally. Those attacks had eased in recent months but it was not clear if the lull was due to pressure from military offensives or a shift in tactics.

Later reports said the American citizens were not killed but wounded.