ISLAMABAD, Pakistan – Two American officials were saved by their armored vehicle Friday when it was hit by a bomb in the northwestern city of Peshawar in an apparent revenge attack for the killing of al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden.
It was the first assault on Americans in Pakistan since the May 2 U.S. Navy SEALs raid that found bin Laden in the town of Abbottabad in Pakistan’s north.
Passersby were not so lucky. At least one was killed and 13 injured, Pakistani officials said.
“Unfortunately, while they (Americans) have bullet-proof vehicles, the ordinary people of Peshawar don’t,” said Bashir Bilour, a senior provincial government minister.
The Pakistani Taliban, which is closely allied with al-Qaida, claimed responsibility.
“The diplomatic staff of all NATO countries are our targets,” said Ehsanullah Ehsan, a Pakistani Taliban spokesman, told reporters by telephone. “We will continue such attacks. Pakistan is our first target, and America is our second.”
Last week, the Pakistani Taliban, in its first act of retribution for the bin Laden killing, claimed a suicide bombing at a paramilitary training center in the country’s northwest that killed more than 80, most of them young recruits.
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