Suicide Bombings Kill 4 in Pakistan

Two suicide bombers attacked a naval war college in the eastern city of Lahore on Tuesday, killing at least four people, including three in the Pakistani Navy, naval officials said.

At least 14 people were wounded, including two who were in critical condition, officials said. There were no immediate claims of responsibility.

Pakistan has endured a spate of suicide attacks in recent months by militants and tribal extremists, and the Pakistani Army has become a frequent target. Last week, the army’s surgeon general, Lt. Gen. Mushtaq Ahmad Baig, was killed when a suicide attacker approached his car at a traffic light in Rawalpindi and blew himself up.

But the bombing on Tuesday was the first suicide attack on any naval installation in the country during the recent wave of terrorism, according to Lt. Cmdr. Muhammad Amin of the Pakistani Navy.

The double bombing is also rare for Lahore, the country’s cultural capital, where relatively few acts of terrorism have occurred in recent years compared with the rest of Pakistan. The Navy War College is situated in an upscale neighborhood near the Mall, the city’s main thoroughfare, and many important government offices and residential compounds are nearby.

“There were two suicide bombers, who attacked one by one,” said Capt. Akbar Naqi, the spokesman for the navy in Islamabad.

He first said the bombing had been the work of a single suicide bomber, but as more information became available, he said two bombers had been involved.

“One suicide bomber was stationed outside the rear gate of the college,” Captain Naqi said in an interview by telephone. He said the first bomber “exploded himself, probably to make way for the second attacker.”

“The gate was destroyed as a result of the explosion,” he said. “A naval vehicle was entering into the college at that time, and under that cover, the second bomber on a motorbike tried to enter the premises. He was challenged and he exploded himself near the transport shed, next to the gate.”

As a result of the attacks, two vehicles parked at the back of the college caught fire, causing two more large explosions, officials said. More than a dozen other vehicles parked nearby were damaged in those explosions.

Paramedics took the wounded to hospitals in the city, while the army cordoned off the area. Officials said body parts of the two attackers had been found and would undergo DNA tests.

The Navy War College is considered one of the country’s pre-eminent, internationally recognized institutions, naval officials said. It offers training not only to officers from Pakistan’s navy, but also to those from other countries.

Last week, three suicide attackers struck the North-West Frontier Province, according to the Interior Ministry. Blame for most of the recent suicide attacks has been placed on tribal militants battling the army in the country’s rugged, semiautonomous tribal areas, which straddle the border with Afghanistan.

“The links of all suicide attacks can be traced back to the tribal areas,” said Javed Iqbal Cheema, a retired brigadier who is a spokesman for the Interior Ministry.