Suicide Bomb Hurts Three at Islamabad Airport    
'Pakistan Times' Federal Bureau

RAWALPINDI: A suicide attacker detonated a bomb in a parking area at the International Airport that serves Pakistan's capital late Tuesday, wounding at least three police and killing himself, officials said.

A security official stopped the bomber, who was on foot, said Mohammed Farooq, a police official at the central control room in Rawalpindi, where the airport is located. After a brief exchange of fire, the attacker detonated the bomb, he said.

Interior Minister Aftab Khan Sherpao confirmed it was a suicide bombing. Farooq said two police officers were wounded, one seriously.

Another police official, Mohammed Afzal, said the blast also damaged several cars. Police cordoned off the area, and those wounded were taken to a hospital, he said.

Mohammed Sarib, who was at the airport to collect someone arriving on a flight, said he saw a man exchanging fire with security officials. "That man later blew himself up," he was quoted by a foreign news agency as saying.

The bombing follows a series of suicide attacks targeting security in northwestern Pakistan. On Jan. 26 blast at Islamabad's Marriott Hotel that killed one security guard and wounded seven other people.

Authorities suspect the bombings could be in retaliation to a recent airstrike on an suspected al-Qaida hideout near the Afghan border that a militant vowed to avenge.

Meanwhile, a security official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to release information to reporters, said airport security officials arrested a man who was trying to flee.

It was unclear whether the detained man was a suspected accomplice of the suicide attacker.

Details

Initial details say that a suicide bomber blew himself up after opening fire at the Islamabad International airport Tuesday, killing himself and injuring three security officials, report said.

An accomplice of the attacker has been detained by the police, who opened fire at security officials before the other detonated himself up.

The attackers were heading towards the airport in a taxi and opened firing when security staffers tried to stop them, which injured three airport security officials, says a report.

One of the attackers suddenly blew himself up while the other two including the taxi driver have been arrested by law enforcement agencies.

It was learnt that countrywide airports have been put on high alert while Islamabad airport has been completely sealed soon after the incident.●