Bomb kills Pakistani official
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan – A suicide bomber killed the Pakistan army’s surgeon general Monday in the highest-level assassination since President Pervez Musharraf joined the U.S. war against terror.
The strike was a reminder of the extremist threat just as Musharraf resists pressure to quit from opponents who swept last week’s parliamentary election.
A presidential spokesman on Monday dismissed suggestions from three U.S. senators that the embattled Pakistani leader might beat a “graceful” retreat from power.
Musharraf was elected to a new five-year presidential term last year by Pakistani lawmakers, “not by any senator from the United States,” spokesman Rashid Qureshi told Dawn News television. “So I don’t think he needs to respond to anything that is said by these people.”
The lone suicide bomber targeted Lt. Gen. Mushtaq Baig’s black Toyota sedan when it stopped for a red signal on a busy road in Rawalpindi, a city just south of the capital, officials and witnesses said.
Baig, the army’s top medical officer, died along with his driver and guard, the army said. Five civilians were also killed, it said.
Army spokesman Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas said Baig was the most senior army officer killed in an attack since Pakistan sided with Washington after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the United States.
Musharraf himself survived at least three attempts on his life before he retired as army chief in November.
Abbas said it was unclear who was behind Monday’s attack.
The government blamed “extremist elements” who were “damaging the cause of Islam” and spoiling Pakistan’s international reputation. Authorities will “not let the perpetrators succeed in their evil designs,” caretaker Prime Minister Mohammedmian Soomro said.
Suicide bombers have struck repeatedly in Rawalpindi, where the army has its headquarters, in recent months, mostly targeting security forces. A gun and suicide attack also killed opposition leader Benazir Bhutto as she left a campaign rally in the city on Dec. 27.
Bhutto’s party finished first in Feb. 18’s parliamentary elections, while supporters of Musharraf were trounced, prompting some opposition leaders to call for him to resign.