ISLAMABAD, (Reuters) – A Taliban suicide bomber killed eight people outside a key Pakistani airforce facility yesterday, with officials quick to deny suggestions the target was linked to the country’s nuclear programme.
The bomber detonated explosives strapped to his body at a checkpoint outside the Pakistan Aeronautical Complex in Kamra, 75 km (45 miles) northwest of the capital, Islamabad.
Hours later, a car bomb exploded outside a restaurant in the northwestern city of Peshawar, wounding 15 people, two of them seriously, officials said.
The attacks were launched amid a major army offensive against Pakistani Taliban militant strongholds in South Waziristan, near the Afghan border.
The offensive has raised fears the insurgents will step up a suicide bombing campaign on urban targets. More than 150 people have been killed in a series of brazen attacks in the past few weeks.
