The blast in the small town of Saidu Sharif in Pakistan's violence-battered Swat Valley was the second major attack in the country in less than 24 hours, raising fears of a new wave of violence by anti-government militants. Suicide bombers killed 55 people in near-simultaneous blasts Friday in the eastern city of Lahore.
No one claimed has responsibility for either attack, though suspicion quickly fell on the loose network of Islamist insurgents who have been laying siege to the U.S.-allied Islamabad government for years and who have stepped up attacks against security forces in recent days.
Maj. Gen. Ashfaq Nadeem, a top military official for the region, said Saturday's attack killed 13 people, including two soldiers and two policemen.
"Such acts cannot demoralize us. I want to assure the people of Swat that we will continue fighting till the last Taliban are eliminated," he said.
The attacker, driving a three-wheeled motorized rickshaw, detonated explosives at a roadblock manned by soldiers and police Saturday morning in Saidu Sharif, the administrative capital of Swat, said police official Qazi Farooq. The explosion sparked panic in the neighborhood, as soldiers in battle gear carried the victims
- injured and dead - through the narrow streets to get them help.
Speaking from his hospital bed, Zia-ur-Rehman said he was traveling in another rickshaw when the blast shook the street and violently jolted his vehicle.
"I thought somebody picked me up and then threw me down," said the 24-year-old, who was covered with cuts and bruises. "Everybody was crying."
The Pakistani military launched a major offensive in Swat early last year after the collapse of peace talks with local Taliban, who at the time controlled much of the valley.
The military took back control of the valley by mid-2009, but sporadic violence has continued.
In Lahore, meanwhile, funerals were being held Saturday for the dozens of people killed the day before.
Police official Chaudhry Shafique said the death toll from that attack rose to 55 Saturday after 12 more people died overnight. About 100 people were wounded.
That attack occurred when two suicide bombers on foot set off their explosives within seconds of each other near two trucks carrying soldiers on patrol in RA Bazaar, a residential and commercial neighborhood with numerous military buildings. About 10 of those killed were soldiers, said police Chief Parvaiz Rathore.
