Powerful bombs kill 29 near Pak capital

At least 29 people were killed and scores injured in twin bomb attacks, including one targeting an Army bus, in crowded markets of Rawalpindi, Pakistani garrison city near the capital today.

The first explosion occurred in a bus ferrying Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission employees to work in the city's busy Qasim bazaar, police said.

Army spokesman Major General Waheed Arshad said 17 people were killed in the blast, which occurred around 7.30 am.

The second bomb, planted on a motorbike, went off 15 minutes later at the bustling RA Bazaar, killing at least 12 people.

No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attacks. "It is terrorism because innocent people were killed in both blasts," said Arshad.

The Army bus was reported to be carrying employees of Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission, which operates the country's nuclear and missile programme, Interior Ministry spokesman Javed Iqbal Cheema was quoted as saying here.