Suicide blasts kill 7 after Pakistan mosque assault

MIRANSHAH, Pakistan, July 12 (Reuters) Two suicide bomb attacks killed at least seven people, including three policemen, in northwest Pakistan, today.

Nearly 30 people have been killed in attacks on security forces and government targets in the northwest frontier region since the army laid siege to a mosque in Islamabad on July 3, raising fears that an expected backlash was already under way.

Commandos finally stormed the Lal Masjid, or Red Mosque, on Tuesday, killing 75 members of a Taliban-style movement, including hardcore militants.

The Lal Masjid movement drew its student cadre from poor tribal regions in the northwest, where support for militants and anti-government sentiment is rife.

Today, a suicide bomb attack on the office of the top government official in the North Waziristan tribal region killed two people, a witness wounded in the blast said.

Political Agent Pirzada Khan, the top federal government administrator of North Waziristan, one of seven semi-autonomous tribal regions, was unhurt.

But according to a hospital doctor two of Khan's staff were killed, while a guest and an office worker were wounded.

''A man dressed in black blew himself up when he was stopped by an office worker in Khan's office,'' Sher Zaman told Reuters from his hospital bed in Miranshah, the main town in a region regarded as a hotbed of support for the Taliban and al Qaeda.

Another suicide attack targeted a police vehicle in Swat town. The blast killed five, including three policemen, said Shamsul Qamar, an official at the police control room in Swat.

The other two victims were accomplices of the suicide bomber, according to Abdul Kalam, a senior police officer.

''They stopped a police patrol and one of them blew himself up,'' Kalam said.

''It could be related to what has happened in Islamabad.'' Attacks targeting security forces are common in the region, but the frequency of attacks this month have fuelled speculation they could be related to the army's assault on Lal Masjid. Four of the blasts have been suicide attacks.

REUTERS NY HT1932