Another Suicide Blast in Pakistan Kills 19

The city of Peshawar has become Pakistan’s most popular target for suicide bombings, with yet another deadly blast, this one on Thursday at the city courthouse, bringing the total to 10 attacks in six weeks. According to the Los Angeles Times, at least 19 were killed and 51 wounded in the latest blast.  —KA

The Los Angeles Times:

Peshawar, a city of nearly 3 million people situated on the fringe of Pakistan’s largely ungoverned tribal areas, has been hardest hit by the violence. Suicide bombers have struck bustling markets, police stations and checkposts, and even the regional headquarters of the country’s vaunted intelligence agency.

With today’s strike, the death toll from the wave of attacks around Peshawar since early October has reached at least 247 people.

Authorities said the attacker tried to push his way into the city’s Judicial Complex but was stopped by police officers at the courthouse’s main gate. When they tried to search him, he detonated a jacket filled with explosives, said Sahibzada Muhammad Anees, a Peshawar city official.

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AP / Mohammad Sajjad

Volunteers gather outside a courthouse after a suicide bombing killed at least 19 and wounded at least 51 in Peshawar, Pakistan on Thursday.