Two massive suicide bombs exploded today moments after Pakistani president General Pervez Musharraf 's motorcade passed - the second assassination attempt against him in 11 days, officials said. The president's car was damaged but he was unhurt.
"It was an assassination attempt on the president," said General Shaukat Sultan, the chief army spokesman. "It was a suicide attack."
He said two suicide bombers detonated explosives hidden in pick-up trucks as the president's motorcade passed two near petrol stations on a main road in Rawalpindi, a bustling city near the capital, Islamabad.
Witnesses reported seeing body parts, shattered cars and broken glass along the route. Mr Abdur Rauf Chaudry, a spokesman for the Interior Ministry, said 14 people were killed, including two policemen. At least two suicide bombers were also killed, and 46 people were injured.
"Thanks be to God, (the president) and members of his convoy are safe," information minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed said in a short announcement made on Pakistani television. Minister Ahmed said the windscreen on Gen
"There has been a security lapse," Ahmed said. "Authorities will investigate, but there has definitely been a lapse." Minister Ahmed said Gen
He said the president was considering addressing the nation on television later today, but had not yet made up his mind. The road where the attack occurred is one used nearly every day by Gen
Shortly after the attack, frantic family members of those killed and injured gathered outside nearby Rawalpindi hospital, many in tears. "I saw three people very badly injured," said Sajid Bashir, 25, an employee at one of the petrol stations where the attack occurred. "It was chaos."
PA