By DPA
Islamabad : A suicide car bomber blew himself next to a school bus in a Pakistani military town Monday, injuring at least five children in the first such attack targeting children in the country, a military official said.
The attack occurred in the northwest town of Kamra, which is home to a Pakistan Air Force base, at 7:35 a.m. (0235 GMT) as the children were on their way to school, said Lieutenant Colonel Baseer Haider Malik.
He said the military was investigating whether the bus was carrying the children of Air Force personnel or local residents of the town, which lies about 65 km northwest of the capital city Islamabad.
“I think this is the first time that this sort of attack (against children) has happened,” he said.
DawnNews TV reported that two adults on the bus, including the driver, were also injured.
Malik said authorities were unsure who carried out the attack or whether it was related to an ongoing military operation against pro-Taliban Islamic militants in the northwest Swat Valley region.
At least seven people, including two children, were killed in a suicide car bombing Sunday on a security checkpoint in Nimgole, which lies within the valley.
Fighting and violence escalated in Swat in late October when President Pervez Musharraf sent troops to rein in about 5,000 followers of radical cleric Maulana Fazlullah, who had started an armed campaign for the enforcement of strict Islamic rule in the valley.
Last week, the military captured the town of Imam Dheri, which served as Fazlullah’s headquarters, forcing him and hundreds of his followers to flee into the nearby mountains.
The military also said Monday that seven soldiers who had been captured by Fazlullah’s forces in Swat had been released unharmed.