Dozens wounded in deadly Pakistan suicide bomb

Last Updated: Fri, 12 Nov 2010 12:10:00 +1100

A truck bomb has destroyed a police compound in the Pakistani city of Karachi, killing at least 18 people and wounding more than 100 others.

Police say at least six gunmen opened fire with automatic weapons before driving a truck packed with explosives into the boundary wall of the Criminal Investigation Department.

The ABC's South Asia Correspondent Sally Sara says the blast was so powerful, it destroyed the CID head quarters and shattered windows up to two kilometres away.

The building is used to hold and interrogate a number of militants, including those from banned organisations. It was not immediately clear how many were inside at the time.

Eyewitness Gulbhar Khan told reporters he believed many CID officers may have been in the building.

"People are still trapped under the rubble," he said.

Bloodied and dazed survivors, including some children, were taken to hospital.

The Pakistani Taliban has claimed responsibility for the attack, which took place in one of the most heavily guarded areas of central Karachi.

Azam Tariq, a spokesman for the militant group, said the attack was in United States air strikes in the country's northwestern tribal areas.

"It's a reaction to the drone strikes and such attacks will continue until drone strikes are stopped," he told Reuters.

Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani have condemned the blast.

Mr Gilani has expressed his condolences to the families of the victims.

Pakistan's Deputy High Commissioner to Australia, Tasawar Khan, says despite these attacks, the country's security forces have succeeded in reducing the Taliban's presence across the country and in containing them to Waziristan province.

"We're containing them in that area, but obviously these odd incidents happen," he told Radio Australia.

"[The militants] merge with the local population and then strike.

"Probably if one incident is happening, a number of them are being averted by security forces."

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