Suicide car bomber in Pakistan kills at least 25 Shias

Fri Sep 18, 2009 4:29am EDT

By Muhammad Hashim

KOHAT, Pakistan (Reuters) - A suicide car-bomber killed at least 25 people in northwest Pakistan on Friday in an explosion on a road that brought down nearby shops, police and witnesses said.

Militants have struck with bombs numerous times since intensifying their war against the government in 2007 but the Islamists have suffered setbacks this year raising government hope that the security forces might be getting the upper hand.

The bomb went off on a main road near the city of Kohat, 150 km (100 miles) southwest of Islamabad, and brought down some shops beside the road, police and witnesses said.

"A restaurant and many shops have collapsed. It's chaos here. There's huge devastation," said Ibn-e-Ali, a former judge and resident of the area.

"My house is one kilometer away but the blast was so huge it felt as if it was next door," he said.

Mehtab-ul-Hasan, top administrator of the region where the blast took place, told Reuters that 25 to 30 people had been killed.

"Twenty bodies are lying beside me," Hasan said by telephone.

Kohat is a garrison town, close to the lawless ethnic Pashtun tribal belt on the Afghan border, which is a major sanctuary for militants battling in both Pakistan and Afghanistan.

The area where the attack took place is mostly inhabited by minority Shi'ite Muslims and there has been sectarian violence in the region in the past.

Taliban militants are from the majority Sunni community and attack on Shi'ites are part of their strategy to fight the government.

Pakistani forces have made gains against the militants in an offensive in the Swat valley, northwest of Islamabad, months after Taliban advances and bomb attacks raised fears for nuclear-armed Pakistan's future and contributed to a slide in investor confidence.

Militant attacks have tapered off in recent weeks after the death of the Pakistani Taliban chief in a missile fired by a U.S. drone aircraft on August 5, but security officials say fighters loyal to al Qaeda and the Taliban are still a serious threat.

(Additional reporting and writing by Zeeshan Haider; Editing by Robert Birsel)