Pak: Judge, 6 lawyers killed in Courtroom blast

Quetta (Pakistan), Feb 17: A judge and six lawyers were among 15 people killed in a suspected suicide bomb attack on a courtroom in the southwestern Pakistani city of Quetta today, the city's police chief said.

The bomb exploded while the court was in session and a senior judge and six lawyers were among those killed, police said. At last 25 people were injured and police chief Rahu Khan Brohi told Reuters six of them were in a critical condition.

Police found a head amongst the carnage, raising suspicions that the blast could be have caused by a suicide bomber, Rehmat Niazi, the police officer in charge of operations, told sources.

The upward force of a blast from a suicide belt typically decapitates the bomber.

''We're looking into the possibiltly of whether it is a suicide attack,'' Niazi said.

Pakistan has recently suffered a spate of suicide attacks that intelligence officials have linked to groups operating from tribal areas, regarded as hotbeds of support for the Taliban and militants linked to al Qaeda.

Television footage from the wrecked courthouse showed people and police walking through pools of blood, collecting belongings. Body parts and torn clothes could be seen all around.

The recent suicide attacks followed a Pakistan army air strike on a militant base in South Waziristan tribal region in mid-January.

Nearly 30 people have been killed in the blasts and attacks in the capital Islamabad and northwest city of Peshawar raised fears that militants were retaliating by attacking the cities, to weaken President Pervez Musharraf's resolve.

Pakistan has been under mounting pressure from the United States and Afghanistan to tackle Taliban sanctuaries on its territory.

Taliban leaders are widely believed to be operating from in and around Quetta, the capital of the restive province of Baluchistan, though Pakistan consistently denies their presence.

Baluchistan is also beset with unrest due to ethnic Baluch militants, who are fighting for greater autonomy.

REUTERS

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