Two killed as bomber hits Pakistan's nuclear agency bus
At least two people have been killed and several others injured after a bomber on a motorcycle struck a bus carrying employees of Pakistan’s nuclear agency, security sources say.
The casualties were caused after the attack targeted the bus of the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission on Thursday afternoon in Attock district, which is located in northern part of Punjab province.
Mohammad Aslam, a local police officer, said the assailant opened fire on the bus, prompting the driver to stop the vehicle and chase him. The attacker then set off his explosives.
The deceased include an employee and a passerby. Those wounded in the fatal incident were shifted to a nearby hospital.
The vehicle was largely destroyed by the powerful blast.
Bomb blasts by militants are common in Pakistan, especially in tribal areas bordering Afghanistan.
Punjab province, where the city is located, has traditionally experienced more calm compared to the rest of the country, which has been wracked by militancy waged by Pakistani Taliban and criminal activities.
The latest attack on the nuclear agency bus could raise fears about the safety of the country's nuclear facilities.
Two high-profile attacks by terrorists on highly secure military bases in Pakistan, the first on the General Headquarters of the Pakistan Army in the garrison city of Rawalpindi in October 2009 and the second on the naval aviation base near Karachi in May 2011, renewed international anxiety about the security of Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal.
Senior officials in Islamabad have repeatedly played down threats to its nuclear facilities, saying Pakistan's nuclear weapons are in safe hands.
Pakistan tested its first nuclear weapon in 1998, in response to a similar move by its archrival India.
Thousands of Pakistanis have lost their lives in bombings and other militant attacks since 2001, when Pakistan entered an alliance with the US in the so-called war on terror. Thousands more have been displaced by the wave of violence and militancy sweeping across the country.
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