RAWALPINDI, Feb 4: A lieutenant-colonel, a major and six others were killed in the city’s high-security zone on Monday when a suicide bomber rammed his motorcycle into a minibus carrying trainees of the Armed Forces Post-Graduate Medical Institute (AFPGMI).

Among others who lost their lives were a subedar, a naib subedar and an employee of the MES. The driver of the minibus and a motorcyclist also died.

The eighth victim remained unidentified.

At least 47 other people were injured in the powerful explosion, which was heard several kilometres away from the scene, sending a wave of panic through the vicinity.

Among the wounded were two policemen, six-year-old Ridwa and 10-year-old Sajjad.

The minibus was destroyed while three other vehicles, including the school van and a car, were damaged. Window panes of buildings were shattered.

Body parts, twisted metal from the minibus and schoolchildren’s books lay scattered all over the place.

The injured were taken to the Combined Military Hospital and the Military Hospital. Doctors said the death toll might rise as the condition of some of the injured, the minibus driver among them, was critical.

According to the Inter-Services Public Relations, six personnel of the armed forces were killed and 38 others, including security personnel and civilians, were injured in the suicide attack at the R.A. Bazaar.

The suicide bomber blew himself up near a vehicle of the armed forces at around 7.30am.

According to security sources, the biker, carrying high explosives, rammed his motorcycle into the AFPGMI’s minibus in front of the offices of the National Logistics Cell’s chief engineer. The minibus was carrying doctors and military personnel to the institute when the suicide bomber struck it.

The NLC office is located near the GHQ and a few hundred metres away from the scene of the Sept 4 suicide attack, which killed 27 people.

Ambulances and fire engines arrived on the scene. But they were turned back as the entire operation was carried out by military personnel. The media were not allowed to visit the scene.

An expert said six to seven kilograms of explosive had been used in the explosion.

“There were about 10 to 15 personnel in the minibus when the explosion occurred. Had there been more people on it, the death toll could have been higher,” a security official said.

No one claimed responsibility for the blast.