Police say 2 explosions in northwest Pakistan kill 8 people, wounded include police chief

2 blasts in Pakistan target police; 8 people dead

PESHAWAR, Pakistan — Two explosions went off near a police complex in a northwestern Pakistani city Thursday, killing at least eight people and wounding more than 20 others including the local police chief, authorities said.

The blasts in Bannu underscored the relentless security threat in Pakistan’s regions bordering Afghanistan despite Pakistani army offensives and U.S. missile strikes aimed at al-Qaida and Taliban fighters in the area.

The second blast came as rescuers responded to the first — a militant tactic seen before in Pakistan, but not often.

Militants have carried out numerous attacks on security forces over the past several years to undermine the public’s confidence in the already-weak state. On Wednesday, a suicide bomber killed 10 police officers and seven civilians in the Khyber tribal region.

Bannu hospital official Mohammad Iqbal said eight bodies were brought to the facility and the city’s police chief was in surgery. Most of the dead and wounded were police, Iqbal said.

No group immediately claimed responsibility, but suspicion is likely to fall on the Pakistani Taliban.

The explosions come amid growing certainty that the militant group’s top commander, Hakimullah Mehsud, died from wounds sustained in a U.S. missile strike in mid-January. The Taliban have denied he is dead, but failed to offer proof that he is alive.

A potential succession struggle in the wake of Mehsud’s death could temporarily weaken the Pakistani Taliban but is unlikely to cripple its ability to carry out deadly attacks.

The Pakistani military has pursued the militant group in its main stronghold, the South Waziristan tribal region, for months, and has managed to dismantle a good deal of its infrastructure. But many of the militants are believed to have fled to other areas in the tribal belt or just outside it.