Two killed in US consulate vehicle bombing in Pakistan
Pakistani rescuers and security personnel gather at a bomb blast site in Peshawar on September 3, 2012. The US embassy in Islamabad denied reports that two Americans had been killed in a suicide car bomb attack in Pakistan’s northwestern city of Peshawar.
A car bomb slammed into a US consulate vehicle in Peshawar, Pakistan on Monday, killing two Pakistanis and wounding two American consular staff members, according to CNN.
There are conflicting reports as to the number and nationality of the casualties.
State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said the attack did not kill any US consulate employees. Her statement came after local information minister Iftikar Hussain claimed that two Americans had died in the blast, CNN reported.
The US embassy in Islamabad confirmed that two American personnel and two Pakistani staff members were wounded in the bombing attack, according to Bloomberg.
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Pakistani officials said 25 other people were wounded in the explosion.
Peshawar police chief Imtiaz Altaf said the car was loaded with 240 pounds of explosives, including 10 mortar rounds, Pakistani newspaper The Express Tribune said.
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Reuters noted that there was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack. Pakistan's Taliban usually take the blame for many suicide attacks in Pakistan.
The Express Tribune noted that Peshawar is the main city in northwest Pakistan, the gateway to tribal regions where the Taliban and Al Qaeda militants still have power.