Pak suicide blast kills police officer

Acting on an intelligence report that a suicide car bomber had left Peshawar in the northwest to strike a target in the eastern city of Lahore, police stopped a vehicle at Lillah, 140 km from Islamabad, on Sunday morning.

The man who was driving the car got out and walked towards the police team.
When some policemen approached the car to search it, the second man inside it detonated the explosives, reports said.

A highway patrol inspector was killed in the blast.
However, regional police chief Aslam Tarin expressed doubt about reports that a second man was in the car because investigators had not found any body parts in the vehicle.

“Investigations are continuing and only one man has been arrested,” he told reporters.
The arrested man, who is in his early 20s, was taken away by the intelligence officials to an undisclosed location for questioning.

The arrested man could not speak Urdu fluently. The police officials said the attackers could have caused major damage if they were not stopped as they were planning to target a thickly populated area in Lahore.
The car was packed with over 30 kg of explosives and the explosion was heard from 15 km away, officials said.

The blast was the latest in a series of deadly bombings and suicide attacks unleashed by the Taliban across Pakistan about two weeks ago. Most of the attacks have targeted security facilities, including the army’s fortified General Headquarters in Rawalpindi.

Troops on Saturday took control of Taliban chief Hakimullah Mehsud’s hometown in South Waziristan, where over 170 militants and 23 soldiers have so far died in fighting which began eight days ago.