Eight policemen dead in Pakistan suicide attack

9/05/2010 09:30:24 PM

ISLAMABAD – At least eight policemen were killed and 13 wounded in a suspected suicide attack on a police station in northwestern Pakistan Monday, police said, the third such attack in the country within a week.

Nearly 100 people were killed in suicide bombings on processions of minority Shi'ite Muslims in the eastern city of Lahore and southwestern city of Quetta last week.

The attacks by militants linked to al Qaeda and Taliban ended a lull in violence after Pakistan was hit by the worst floods in its history, which have affected nearly 20 million people and made millions of people homeless.

In the latest attack, a suicide bomber drove his car into a police station in the town of Lakki Marwat.

"Eight dead bodies are lying in the police station. We are gathering more information," Abdul Rahim, a police official of the town told Reuters by telephone.

The Pakistani Taliban, who are now also seen as an increasing threat to the United States, claimed responsibility for attacks in Lahore and Quetta.

Friday, the Taliban also threatened to launch attacks in the United States and Europe "very soon," two days after the Washington added the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan , or Taliban Movement of Pakistan, to its list of "foreign terrorist organizations."