PESHAWAR, Pakistan - In one of the deadliest attacks since the U.S. raid that killed Osama bin Laden last month, two explosions minutes apart in Peshawar on Sunday killed 34 people and injured more than 100, officials said.
The blasts, one of which was caused by a suicide bomber, occurred just after midnight in an area that is home to political offices and army housing.
The attack took place as CIA Director Leon Panetta and Afghan President Hamid Karzai visited Islamabad, 95 miles to the east, to speak separately with senior Pakistani officials about intelligence sharing and efforts to reconcile with the Taliban.
The first explosion was relatively small and drew police and rescue workers to the site, said Dost Mohammed, a senior local police official. A large explosion rocked the area a few minutes later, causing the fatalities and wounding 108 people, 18 critically, said Rahim Jan, a senior doctor at an area hospital.
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The second blast was caused by a suicide bomber riding a motorcycle packed with 22 pounds of explosives, said Ejaz Khan, a senior police official. The source of the first explosion was unknown.
No group claimed responsibility, but the Pakistani Taliban have pledged to carry out attacks in retaliation for the U.S. Navy SEAL raid that killed bin Laden in an town outside Islamabad on May 2.
Sunday's attack took place across the street from the offices of the top political agent to Khyber, part of Pakistan's volatile tribal region, and only about 100 yards from army housing units. Peshawar borders the tribal region and has been repeatedly hit by bombings during the past few years.
The dead included at least one journalist, said Mohammed Farooq, a hospital doctor. Another four journalists and at least 10 police were injured, he said. Many of the people killed were so badly burned that they were difficult to identify.
Jamal Khan, a 22-year-old student, was in his apartment when the first blast went off. He rushed to the scene as the second explosion occurred, peppering his face and arms with flying debris.
"The explosion was so huge I will never forget it all my life," Khan said as he recovered in a hospital. "It was deafening, and then there was a cloud of dust and smoke. When the dust settled, I saw people crying for help and body parts scattered everywhere."
The bombings followed a second day of meetings between Panetta, the CIA chief, and senior Pakistani officials. Panetta's visit was his first to Pakistan since the bin Laden raid.
The raid plunged an already strained relationship between the CIA and Pakistan's main intelligence agency, the ISI, to new lows and threatened cooperation that is key to the U.S. fight against al-Qaida and Taliban militants battling foreign troops in Afghanistan.
The U.S. also needs Pakistan's help to promote and guide negotiations with the Taliban that can help end the decade-long Afghan war. Pakistan and Afghanistan inaugurated a joint peace commission Saturday during a visit by Karzai.
