A suicide attacker detonated a bomb in a parking area at the international airport that serves Islamabad on Tuesday night, killing himself and wounding at least five persons. A security official said on condition of anonymity that airport security officials arrested a man who was trying to flee the scene. It was unclear whether the detained man was a suspected accomplice of the suicide attacker.
A security official stopped the bomber, who was on foot, said Mohammed Farooq, a senior police official at the central control room in Rawalpindi where the airport is located. After a brief exchange of fire, the attacker detonated the bomb, he said. A PTI report said the attacker carried grenades and a pistol and was heading towards the VIP section of the airport lobby when security personnel stopped him. He opened fire at the security personnel who retaliated, said Farooq, the Deputy Inspector General of Rawalpindi.
The bombing follows a series of suicide attacks targeting security forces in northwestern Pakistan, where pro-Taliban militants are active, and a January 26 blast at Islamabad's Marriott Hotel that killed one security guard and wounded seven other people. Authorities have yet to identify the Marriott Hotel attacker, but suspect the bombings could be in retaliation to a recent Pakistani army airstrike on an suspected al-Qaida hideout near the Afghan border that a prominent Pakistani militant vowed to avenge. |