Police: Dozens dead in Pakistan explosion
November 2, 2009 3:24 a.m. EST
Pakistani policemen secure the site after a sucide bomb blast in Rawalpindi on Monday.
Islamabad, Pakistan (CNN) -- A suicide bomber detonated explosives Monday outside a bank in Rawalpindi where people had lined up to pick up their monthly checks, police said.
The blast, in the Cannt area of the city, killed at least 25 people and wounded more than 30 others, said police Superintendent Ishtiaq Shah.
Rawalpindi, about 18 miles (30 kilometers) from the capital city of Islamabad, is a closely guarded city that is home to the country's military headquarters.
The Cannt area is short for cantonment, so called because of its proximity to the military offices. It is home to several travel agencies and mid-range hotels.
The bomber rode up to the front of the National Bank in a motorcycle or a bicycle, said Rawalpindi Police Chief Rao Muhammad Iqbal.
The impact of the bomb was so intense that residents a block away said they thought the blast took place where they were.
The explosion blew out windows in the three-story building and blackened its walls. Rescue workers in surgical masks picked through the rubble looking for survivors.
Iqbal Nisouwana, a driver, who rushed to the scene to help tend to the wounded said he saw five men in uniform among the wounded.
"Two soldiers were injured. I helped put them in the ambulance," Nisouwana said. "And I saw three more wounded."
"One old man called to me for help," he added. "I tried to pick him up but he was too heavy."
In recent weeks, has been relentlessly rocked by a wave of attacks as Islamic militants retaliate against a military offensive to rout insurgents operating along the Pakistan-Afghan border.
On October 10, militants held dozens of hostages for some 22 hours inside the army headquarters in Rawalpindi. Eleven military personnel, three civilians, and nine militants were killed in the siege.
On October 20, back-to-back explosions took place at Islamabad's International Islamic University. At least six people died in the attack. Twenty-nine others were wounded.
And on October 28, a massive car bomb tore through the heart of a bustling marketplace in Peshawar, killing at least 100 people and injuring at least 200 others.
The attack on the capital of the North West Frontier Province was the deadliest terrorist attack on Pakistan since the October 2007 attack on a homecoming rally for former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. More than 135 people were killed in the suicide bombing in Karachi. Bhutto escaped harm, but she was assassinated two months later.
Her husband, Asif Ali Zardari, is now the president of the country.
PPolice: Dozens dead in Pakistan explosionolice: Dozens dead in Pakistan explosion
