Suicide attack at Naval War College kills five in Pakistan

Islamabad, Mar 4 (UNI) An apparent suicide attack on Naval War College in Lahore today killed at least five people and injured 12 others, officials and witnesses said.

The attack took place in the densely-populated area near the Mall Road where the college is located. At least three loud blasts were heard, causing panic among the people.

A Pakistan Navy spokesman as well as senior police officials in the eastern city said it appeared to be a suicide attack. They said a suicide bomber driving a private car entered the college building and rammed the vehicle in the trucks parked there.

Private TV channels showed video footage of ambulances rushing towards the site of the blast.

This was the fourth major terror attack in the country in less than ten days. On Saturday, at least 43 people were killed when a suicide bomber blew himself up at the funeral prayers of a police official in the restive northwestern Swat Valley.

Another deadly suicide attack, killing at least 50 people at a 'jirga' or assembly of elders in tribal area of Darra Adam Khel, took place on Sunday.

Surgeon General of Pakistan armed forces Lieutenant-General Mushtaq Baig was also killed along with his guard and driver and five civilians when a suicide bomber blew himself up near his car in the garrison town of Rawalpindi on February 25.

More than 300 people have been killed in a series of suicide attacks and bomb explosions, mostly targeting military personnel in tribal regions and Northwestern Frontier Province, since January this year.

Analysts believe that the increased suicide attacks and explosions will pose a great challenge for the new government, which is set to come into being in the next couple of weeks.

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