Three blasts ripped through crowded markets and a police checkpoint in Peshawar,killing at least 10 people and injuring 100,a day after an attack outside the ISIs headquarters in Lahore claimed 35 lives. Two bombs went off within minutes of each other in Qisa Khawani and nearby Kabari Bazar,destroying shops at a time when the markets were crowded with people,while a suspected suicide bomber attacked a police checkpoint in the city. The first blast occurred in Kabari Bazar,which sparked off a big fire which destroyed eight vehicles,channels said. Minutes later,a second bomb went off in Qisa Khawani market across the road which destroyed several shops,they added. Geo TV reported that six persons were killed and 100 injured in the twin blasts,while police official Yaseen Khan said four people died in the attack on the police outpost. Two separate timed bombs were planted on motorbikes,which exploded in quick succession, a senior police officer said. Gunbattles then broke out between the people and militants in which two suspected terrorists were killed and as many arrested,provincial police chief Malik Mohammad Navid told reporters. Some of the wounded are in a serious condition, reports said,adding an emergency had been declared in local hospital where the injured were rushed. NWFP Chief Minister Ameer Haider Khan Hoti has ordered an inquiry into the blasts. President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani condemned the attacks. A short while after the twin attacks,a suicide bomber attacked a paramilitary checkpost,killing four soldiers,a wounded soldier said. He was on foot and as we saw him,he ran and blew himself up when he got close to us, Wasiullah,a paramilitary soldier wounded in the attack,told Reuters. The attacks came hours after Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for Wednesdays attack near the ISI headquarters in Lahore. We were looking for this target for a long time. It was a reaction to the Swat operation, Hakimullah Mehsud,militant commander loyal to Baitullah Mehsud,said over the telephone. We have achieved our target, he said of the Lahore attack. We were looking for this target for a long time. We want the people of Lahore,Rawalpindi,Islamabad and Multan to leave those cities,as we plan major attacks against Government facilities in coming days and weeks, he said. An alert has been sounded in major cities. Late on Wednesday,the military released what it said was a tape of an intercepted telephone call between the Taliban spokesman in Swat,Muslim Khan,and an unidentified militant in which Khan urges revenge attacks. Theres a need for them to strike soldiers in Punjab so that they can understand and feel pain, Khan says on the tape,broadcast on media. Strikes should be carried out on their homes so their kids get killed and then theyll realise. Army Chief General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani,who was in Lahore on Thursday,said that Pakistan would not be terrorised and that the Army remained committed to defeating insurgents,according to a statement by a spokesperson for Pakistan Army.
