RAWALPINDI/ISLAMABAD, Sept 4: Two suicide bombers struck two localities in the high-security zone in the garrison city of Rawalpindi on Tuesday, killing 27 people and injuring more than 80 others.

Most of the people killed or injured in the blasts belonged to defence services, four of them officers, though several civilian passers-by and schoolchildren were among the victims.

The sound of the blasts was heard several kilometres away. The explosions damaged or destroyed more than a dozen cars, scores of motorcycles, several shops and widow-panes of a large number of houses and offices in the two localities.

The first bomb exploded in a packed bus carrying defence employees near the Qasim Market, followed by an equally powerful explosion about three kilometres away and close to the GHQ in the R.A. Bazaar area.

Authorities described the two blasts as a coordinated move to hit high-profile targets in the military garrison.

Military spokesman and Director-General of Inter-Services Public Relations Maj-Gen Waheed Arshad said the attacks were suicide bombings aimed at hitting personnel of the security forces and other people.

Later, briefing journalists in Islamabad, interior ministry spokesman Brig (retd) Javed Iqbal Cheema said the authorities had reasons to believe that the latest attacks were the work of the same group that had earlier carried out the attacks in Islamabad and some other parts of the country.

He said their links were clearly with the militants in Waziristan.

Brig Cheema also said there was clear intelligence about the possibility of such attacks in Rawalpindi, claiming that special precautionary measures had been taken to avert such attacks.

However, he failed to explain how the militants had managed to bring such a huge quantity of explosives in the city and caused havoc in the high-security area.

At the sites of the blasts, there were moving scenes as a large number of people had gathered to look for their loved ones and to take the injured to nearby hospitals. Military officials were quick to rush to the place and they were soon joined by a large number of ambulances and rescue personnel. Emergency was declared in military and civilian hospitals in the area. Most of the injured had lost their limbs and doctors were seen frantically trying to save their lives.

Four army officers were among the dead and 15 among the injured, ISPR DG told Dawn.

Initially it was not clear if the bombings were suicide attacks, but later the authorities concerned declared both the bombings had been carried out by Al Qaeda militants.

The first blast took place at about 7.20am in a bus and it was so powerful that it destroyed the whole vehicle, killing and injuring most of the passengers.

Mohammad Arif, one of the injured, told Dawn that there were at least 60 people in the vehicle when its driver stopped to pick up three employees.

“As bus driver stopped the vehicle and some people stepped inside, a huge explosion occurred,” Asif said. Later, he said, he was told in a hospital that the bus was torn to pieces and bodies were scattered all over the place.

Soon after the blast, ambulances, fire-engines and traffic police reached the place and rescue workers started removing the dead and the injured trapped in the wreckage of the bus to hospitals.

“I saw the bus reduced to a twisted metal heap. Body parts were scattered all over the place and there was blood everywhere and in the bus,” a police official said.

“It was a huge explosion. It was like a thunderbolt,” said Kashif who was injured in the bus blast.

Mohammad Khan, 52, and his daughter Saima, 22, suffered injuries caused by splinters, while passing through the area.

The second blast took place about three kilometres away near the General Headquarters (GHQ) and the R.A. Bazar police station.

Police sources said a suicide bomber appeared on the corner of the R.A. Bazaar Street and blew himself up.

According to a witness, two shopkeepers were killed on the spot and many people in the area or passing by it were injured.

At least eight vehicles, two of them belonging to army officers, were badly damaged in the blast, which took place close to the GHQ’s gate. Some bicycles and a pick-up van were also damaged.

Shortly after the blast, the entire area was cordoned off by personnel of security forces.

“As I heard the blast, I rushed out of my house and saw bodies scattered all over and flames rising from a motorcycle. Several people lay in or out of their cars dead or injured. Two shopkeepers, Mohammad Saeed and Malik Khurshid, who had just opened their shops, lay dead inside their shops,” Syed Ali Imam, a resident of a nearby house, told Dawn.

Heavy stench of blood filled the air and pieces of flesh, an army officer’s belt and some newspapers were lying all over the place.

There were scenes of chaos in the District Headquarters and Rawalpindi General Hospitals as a large number of relatives of the victims were frantically searching for their loved ones while security officials were pushing them back.

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