Car bomb destroys police station in Pakistan, 2 dead

Suspected militants drove a car packed with explosives into a police station in the Pakistani town of Peshawar on Wednesday, killing two policemen and wounding 20 people, the latest attack since Osama bin laden was killed this month.

The police station, where the office of the Criminal Investigation Department which also investigates militancy is located, was destroyed in the blast, a Reuters witness said.

Residents said the explosion rattled windows throughout town. Television showed police and soldiers cordoning off the affected district.

Two policemen were killed and 20 were wounded in the dawn attack, police said.

"The car was packed with explosives; it hit the gate of the police station," said senior superintendent of police Ejaz Khan.

Another police officer said about 20 policemen were present in the building when the explosion happened.

"A few of them are still screaming. We can hear it. We are trying our best to evacuate them," police inspector Bahadur Khan told Reuters by telephone from the scene.

"But there is little chance that we could recover them alive as it is taking so long to remove rubble," he said adding four wounded policemen had been recovered from rubble.

The bombing comes two days after a brazen raid on a heavily guarded Pakistani naval base in the southern city of Karachi in which 10 military personnel were killed and two aircraft destroyed. The Pakistani Taliban said they staged that assault to avenge the death of al Qaeda leader bin Laden.

Wednesday's attack in Peshawar occurred about 1 km (half a mile) from the U.S. consulate and in the same district where a car bomb exploded last week as a U.S. consulate convoy passed by. One man was killed and about a dozen people were wounded, including two U.S. nationals.

Peshawar is the gateway to Pakistan's turbulent northwest region believed to have become a hub of al Qaeda and Taliban militants.

The Pakistani Taliban also claimed responsibility for the attack on the U.S. convoy, the first attack on foreigners since a U.S. commando team killed bin Laden early this month.