Two American consulate employees wounded in Pakistan bomb attack

Officials and rescue volunteers gather at the bombing site in Peshawar, Pakistan on Monday, Sept. 3, 2012. A car filled with explosives rammed into a U.S. government vehicle on Monday, killing a number of Pakistanis and wounding over a dozen others, police said. (AP Photo/Mohammad Sajjad)

(Reuters) - Two Americans working for the U.S. consulate were wounded in a bomb attack on their vehicle in the Pakistani city of Peshawar on Monday, the American embassy said.

The blast also wounded two Pakistani employees of the consulate, the embassy in Islamabad said in a statement.

Earlier, regional Information Minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain told reporters at least four people, including two Americans, were killed in an attack by a suicide bomber in a vehicle.

"We can confirm that a vehicle belonging to the U.S. consulate in Peshawar was hit in an apparent terrorist attack," the U.S. embassy statement said.

"Two U.S. personnel and two Pakistani staff of the Consulate were injured and are receiving medical treatment."

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, which left a crater along a busy street. Firemen could be seen putting out a vehicle that was mangled and blackened from the explosion.

Television stations repeatedly broadcast an image of a U.S. passport at the scene, its corners scorched by fire.

Pakistan's Taliban, who are close to al Qaeda, are blamed for many of the suicide bombings across Pakistan, a strategic U.S. ally.

Those attacks had eased in recent months but it was not clear if the lull was due to pressure from military offensives or a shift in tactics.
from REUTERS
(Reporting by Jibran Ahmad; Writing by Michael Georgy; editing by Miral Fahmy)
PESHAWAR, Pakistan | Mon Sep 3, 2012 8:51am BST

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Posted in: al Qaeda, ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Peshawar, United States