ISLAMABAD ON HIGH ALERT: NEWSREPORTS

From Hafizah Kamaruddin

ISLAMABAD, Nov 9 (Bernama) -- Islamabad, Pakistan's capital city, was on
high alert on Sunday following reports about serious terrorist threats, the
local newspapers reported Monday.

The Dawn newspaper, quoting Deputy Inspector-General of Police (Operations)
Bani Amin, said intelligence reports indicated that terrorists might attack the
capital and a double-cabin vehicle could be used for the purpose.

The statement was made following the shooting of a suspected suicide bomber
wearing a jacket carrying over eight kilogrammes of explosives stacked with
bullets and pellets.

The man, in his 20s, had run towards a police roadblock shouting Allahuakbar
(Allah is great) after being dropped by a pick-up truck in the outer ring of the
city, near the Saddam Chowk on Margalla Road at about 10pm on Sunday.

Police believe he was a suicide bomber whose handlers wanted him to hit a
'soft target' after failing to take him to their real target in the capital,
said the newspaper.

The police also said that the vehicle with tinted glass, carrying the man,
had two other occupants who managed to escape despite the presence of a
police squad at the checkpost, moving towards Golra.

A policeman with a submachine gun fired at the man, hitting him in the head
and face.

Amin said the man appeared to be an Afghan in his mid-20s died on the spot.

It was lucky he did not get time to detonate the explosives in the jacket he
was wearing, he said.

Islamabad has been quiet Monday as it is a Pakistani public holiday
in commemoration of the birth of national laureate Allma Iqbal 132 years ago.

In Peshawar, a suicide bomb attack at a police roadblock on its Ring Road
killing three people and wounded another five on Monday, said the online
newspaper www.dawn.com quoting police officer Khursheed Khan.

Khan said the bomber was riding in a rickshaw when the explosion took place.
-- BERNAMA