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Female bomber

August 11, 2011

Dozens were injured and at least eight killed in two separate attacks near the Lahori Gate area of Peshawar on Thursday. Officials said they were the first deadly attacks to hit the region during Ramadan.

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The bombings occurred near a police check post in Peshawar
The bombings occurred near a police check post in PeshawarImage: DW/Faridullah Khan

In the first attack, a roadside bomb hit a police patrol van and killed five policemen and a child. Over 20 people were injured.

Two hours later, a burqa-clad female suicide attacker detonated her explosives near the scene of the first blast. She apparently was a young woman of around 20 who was accompanied by an older woman aged over 50. The bodies of both women were taken to a local hospital after the blast, as were 11 injured people.

Police said that the attacks might have been coordinated but this was not certain. Nobody took responsibility for the carnage, but Peshawar is on the frontline of a Taliban insurgency and borders Pakistan's lawless tribal belt.

It is only the third time police have confirmed a female suicide bomber in Pakistan, where Taliban and al Qaeda-linked terrorists have killed some 4,500 people since 2007.

Author: Shivani Mathur (dpa, Reuters)
Editor: Anne Thomas