At least 18 people
were killed and some 30 others injured in a suicide blast that hit a bakery
Sunday night in Nowshera, a city some 50 kilometers east of Peshawar of
northwest Pakistan, reported local Urdu TV channel Dunya.

An injured man receives medical treatment at a hospital in Peshawar, northwest Pakistan, June 5, 2011. At least 18 people were killed in a suspected suicide blast that hit a bakery Sunday night in Nowshera, a city some 50 kilometers east of Peshawar, reported local Urdu TV Channel Dunya. (Xinhua/Umar Qayyum)

The report quoted the
district coordination officer Zakaullah as saying that the blast took place at
about 8:30 p.m. local time inside a bakery located on a busy road within a
military area of the city.

Dozens of people were
busy shopping inside the bakery when the blast happened, said the report.

Bomb disposal squad said
the blast was of suicide nature and the head of the suicide bomber was later
found on the spot.

Police said that the blast
caused another explosion of a gas cylinder in the bakery, which triggered off a
huge fire.

Police said that the
attack was aimed at targeting the family members of military personnel. A senior
army officer’s wife and two children were killed in the blast, they said.

Sunday night’s blast in
Nowshera is the second of its kind reported in the day in the country. Earlier
Sunday morning, a bomb planted inside a pickup car killed six people including a
woman and two children and injured ten others in the neighboring city of
Peshawar.

Local watchers believe the
two blasts could be revenge taken by Pakistan Taliban or al-Qaida following the
killing of a top militant leader Ilyas Kashmiri in a U.S. drone strike launched
late Friday night in Pakistan’s northwest tribal area of South Waziristan which
borders Afghanistan.

VietNamNet/Xinhuanet