ISLAMABAD — A suicide bomber attacked a bakery in Pakistan’s northwest, killing 18 people, and another bomb in the volatile region left six others dead. The attacks were the latest in a wave of bloodshed to hit Pakistan since the U.S. raid that killed al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden.
Also Sunday, a Pakistani security official said authorities were nearly certain that a recent U.S. missile strike killed al-Qaeda commander Ilyas Kashmiri, though some doubt remained among U.S. officials.
And a missile strike early today killed seven suspected militants in Wicha Dana village in South Waziristan, Pakistani intelligence officials said.
The suicide bomber struck the bakery in a neighborhood where army personnel live in the town of Nowshera, police said. At least two soldiers were among the dead.
The attacker was a young man carrying around 18 pounds of explosives. The blast caused some gas cylinders in the bakery to explode, leading to a fire that left many of the 40 wounded in serious condition, said Fazal Maula, a police official.
Earlier in the day, a bomb exploded at a bus stop in the Matani area of the northwest, killing six people and wounding several others, officials said. It appeared to have been planted at the bus stop, as opposed to a suicide attack.
There was no claim of responsibility, but the Pakistani Taliban have claimed credit for other recent attacks, saying they were avenging bin Laden’s death in the May 2 U.S. raid.
