Car Bomber Attacks US Consulate Vehicle in Pakistan
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iStockphoto/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) — A suicide bomber rammed a vehicle filled with explosives into a U.S. Consulate SUV in Peshawar, Pakistan, on Monday, killing at least two people and injuring as many as 19 others.
There were conflicting reports of the casualties. The information minister of Khyber Pukhtookhwa province said that two U.S. nationals were killed in the attack, but a statement from the U.S. Embassy said that “two U.S. personnel and two Pakistani staff of the Consulate were injured” and that “no consulate personnel were killed.”
It was around 9 a.m. when the white car barged its way into the convoy guarding the US government vehicle. Shortly after, there was an explosion, a large plume of smoke and the smell of explosives filled the air, witnesses told ABC News.
Rehmat Ali, a passerby, said that he fell to the ground when the explosion happened and “when I gained senses and looked around I saw some people lying on the road and a vehicle on fire.”
Scenes like this one is not new to Peshawar, which has been scarred by such attacks for decades.
In August 2008, then U.S. Consul General Lynne Tracy, along with two other consular employees, were attacked by a car bomber as their armored jeep left her house for her office located in Peshawar’s safest locality. The occupants of the vehicle escaped injury.
And then again in May 2011 two armored vehicles belonging to the U.S. consulate were hit by a roadside bomb, wounding two American nationals.
All attacks including Monday’s happened in the same locality which is considered relatively safe.
Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio