Blast outside Iranian consulate in Peshawar kills two

A suspected suicide bomb attack outside the Iranian consulate in Peshawar Monday killed two paramilitary soldiers and wounded ten others, officials said. The bombing took place in the up-market University Town area of the northwestern city of Pakistan, where many non-government organisations (NGOs) are also based. Police sources said a suspicious vehicle stopped near a security checkpost near the Iranian consul-general’s office, following which a blast was witnessed. “We have two bodies of paramilitary soldiers and ten wounded have been admitted to hospital,” Farhad Khan, a spokesman for Khyber Teaching Hospital where the casualties were taken told AFP. A senior police official, Mohammad Ejaz Ahmed, said it appeared to be a suicide bombing. Confirming the incident and casualties, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Health Minister Shaukat Yousafzai told reporters that Iranian consulate was the apparent target of the attackers. No group has yet claimed responsibility, but the Pakistani Taliban have carried out such attacks in the past. Earlier this month Pakistan entered into talks with the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) aimed at ending their seven-year insurgency. But the militant group continued carrying out attacks on a near-daily basis, and the dialogue was suspended last week after the insurgents claimed they had executed 23 kidnapped soldiers in a northwestern tribal region. Since then the air force has been carrying out attacks in the volatile tribal regions which border Afghanistan, killing dozens.