PESHAWAR May 20: A car bomb struck a US consulate vehicle here on Friday, killing a passerby. Eleven people were injured in the first attack on Americans in Pakistan since the killing of Osama bin Laden.

Two consulate personnel in the bullet-proof Land Cruiser also suffered minor injuries. US embassy spokesman in Islamabad, Alberto Rodriguez, said in a statement that the vehicle had been hit by an improvised explosive device. The vehicle was damaged, but no US personnel were seriously injured.

Initially, the spokesman said a suicide bomber on a motorbike had hit the vehicle.

(The Taliban, in telephone calls to AFP, swiftly claimed responsibility, threatening further attacks against Western targets and indicating that the blast was to avenge the May 2 killing of Bin Laden by US Navy SEALs.

“Our first enemy is Pakistan, then the United States and after that other Nato countries,” said spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan.) According to police, the vehicle carrying US personnel was going to the consulate office in the cantonment from the American Club in the posh University Town. It was struck on Abdara Road at about 8am when the device placed in the car was detonated by remote control. The explosion left a two-foot deep crater.

The passerby who died was identified as Amjad. The injured were taken to Khyber Teaching Hospital.

A bomb disposal official told Dawn that over 50kg of explosives mixed with artillery shells and grenades had been used in the device.

City police chief Liaquat Ali Khan told reporters that police “have asked all foreigners to avoid movement without proper security, but it is impossible to curtail their movement altogether”.

A case has been registered under terrorism act against unidentified assailants.

The University Town is considered to be a relatively safe locality in the provincial capital and foreigners, including diplomats and staff working for the UN and other relief organisations, live there.

On Aug 26, 2008, the bullet-proof vehicle of US Principal Officer Lynne Tracy came under fire outside her residence in the area. And in November the same year, USAID official Stephen Vance was killed outside his residence.

Suicide bombers attacked the US consulate building in cantonment in April last year. Eight local people were killed in the attack.