Suicide bombers strike again in 2 Pakistani cities

Last update: November 2, 2009 - 7:30 PM

Militants continued to exact a price on Pakistan for the government's offensive against the Taliban near the Afghan border, killing 35 people in a suicide bomb attack on military personnel and civilian workers lined up at a bank to get their monthly wages and pension checks.

The bomb blast in the city of Rawalpindi, just a few hundred yards from the Pakistani Army's headquarters, was followed by another suicide bomb attack at a highway checkpoint outside the eastern city of Lahore that injured at least 15 people.

The attacks continued a surge in violence that has coincided with the government's military operation to crush the Taliban in the South Waziristan tribal area. The violence led the United Nations to announce Monday that it was suspending long-term development efforts in the country's northwest.

ONE DAY STANDS OUT IN OCTOBER DEATH TOLL

Nearly half of all Iraqis killed in October in war-related violence died in a single coordinated bombing attack against government offices in Baghdad, a tally by the Associated Press showed.

Of the 364 Iraqis killed last month, according to the AP count, 155 died on Oct. 25 in two nearly simultaneous bombings targeting government buildings in Baghdad.

The government blamed an alliance of Al-Qaida in Iraq and members of Saddam Hussein's outlawed Baath Party for similar bombings on Aug. 19 of the Justice and Finance ministries.

U.S. SOLDIER DIES

A U.S. soldier died in Iraq of noncombat-related injuries on Monday, the military said, providing no further details.

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