PESHAWAR, Pakistan — A suicide bomber in a pickup truck detonated his explosives near several government offices in northwest Pakistan yesterday, killing at least 32 people in the latest violence to hit the country since the US raid that killed Osama bin Laden.
The Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack.
In addition to the deaths, at least 56 people were wounded, said a Pakistani official, Mir Chaman Khan. Most of the victims were civilians, including many in a nearby restaurant.
Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, has landed in Pakistan for talks. Earlier yesterday, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton stressed the importance of strengthening Washington-Islamabad ties, which have frayed badly since the bin Laden raid.
In claiming yesterday’s attack, the Pakistani Taliban stated that it was not vengeance for bin Laden, but rather revenge for security forces’ killings of a family of five Chechens earlier this month in Baluchistan Province.
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