Taliban hit Peshawar again,kill 14 in suicide attack

Targeting the city for the second day in a row,the attackers brought down the police station that also houses the office of the Crime Investigation Agency and severely damaged a nearby mosque.

The woman,who came on a motorcycle driven by a male accomplice,got off the vehicle and advanced towards a residential complex for army officers. She blew herself up when soldiers opened fire at her,Peshawar police chief Liaquat Ali Khan quoted witnesses as saying.

Meanwhile,the motorcyclist smashed his vehicle into the explosives-laden car blowing it up into a huge fireball. Police officials said 13 people were killed.

However,Additional Inspector General of Police Shafqat Malik of the bomb disposal squad rejected reports that a burqa-clad woman had detonated herself.

The officer in-charge of the police station too told reporters he believed only one bomber the man in the explosives-laden car was involved in the attack.

The security forces continued their pounding of Waziristan using fighter jets and artillery guns to soften the Taliban defences.

With terror toll mounting,Pakistan law enforcement agencies began swoops countrywide,arresting over 80 people suspected to be involved in the recent spate of deadly strikes,including in the synchronised suicide attacks in Lahore on Thursday,which left 29 dead.

Police in Islamabad claimed to have foiled a possible terrorist attack by arresting two men with suicide jackets,grenades and pistols,hours after a series of audacious assaults in Lahore.

The two suspected terrorists were arrested on the outskirts of Islamabad at 9.15 pm on Thursday while they were trying to sneak into the city on motorcycles,police said.

Another terrorist managed to escape with explosives. A contingent of police and paramilitary troops cordoned off the area and launched a search for him.

Inspector General of Police Syed Kaleem Imam said there were reports that terrorists were trying to enter Islamabad to hit targets. We are alert and prepared to counter acts of terrorism, he said.

With security agencies warning of more strikes in the coming days,Pakistan Army Chief Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani on Friday briefed the countrys top political leadership on the security situation.

Kayani and Inter-Services Intelligence agency chief Lt Gen Ahmed Shuja Pasha briefed the political leadership about threats and measures being taken to counter them,at a special meeting convened by the government to assess security issues and chart out a course of action to combat Taliban. The meeting was convened by Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani soon after he returned to Pakistan on Thursday night from an official visit to China,state-run APP news agency reported.