25 killed, 50 injured in two separate blasts in Pakistan

Islamabad, Jun 6: Militants targeted a bus stop and an army-run bakery in bomb attacks in northwest Pakistan on Sunday, June 5 killing 25 people and injuring about 50, officials said.

Police officials said 18 people were killed and nearly 40 others injured when a blast ripped through the A-1 Bakery in Nowshera cantonment, 40 km from Peshawar, the capital of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province.

Provincial Information Minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain said the blast was caused by a remote-controlled bomb that was planted in the bakery.

The blast set off several gas cylinders and triggered a major fire, other officials said. The bakery on Mall Road is run by the army and was crowded when the blast occurred at 8.30 pm.

The wife and two children of a senior security official were among the dead, Geo News channel reported. Several cars and nearby shops were damaged by the explosion and the subsequent fire. Fire fighters and rescue workers later extinguished the blaze.

In the earlier attack, seven persons were killed and 10 more injured when a bomb planted in a van went off in a bus stop at Mattani on the outskirts of Peshawar this morning.

The bus stop was crowded at the time of the blast. Two children and a woman were among the dead. Security forces cordoned off the bus stop as rescue workers rushed the injured to hospital. .

PTI