Twin suicide blasts kill 80 people in Pakistan

Two suicide bombings killed at least 80 people and injured more than 100 at a paramilitary academy in northwest Pakistan on Friday. It marks the first terror attack there since Osama bin Laden’s death on May 2.

The Pakistani Taliban said it carried out the blasts to avenge the killing of the Al-Qaeda leader by US commandos nearly two weeks ago. A Taliban spokesman said more revenge attacks would follow for bin Laden’s “martyrdom.”

The bombings happened in Charsadda at the largest Frontier Constabulary centre in northwest Pakistan. The frontline force is often deployed against militant groups.

Of the dead, 65 people were recruits. Explosives were detonated as newly-trained recruits boarded buses to set off on leave. Pakistan’s military is regularly targeted by such attacks.

Islamabad said this shows the sacrifice it is making in cooperating with the United States on tackling extremists. The US provides billions in aid to Pakistan but some lawmakers have questioned whether the country is serious in hunting down violent Islamists.

It emerged bin Laden lived undetected for years in the town of Abbottabad, close to Pakistan’s top military academy.

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