Married couple kill 10 in suicide attack

The Pakistani Taliban said yesterday the group had sent a husband-and-wife suicide squad to carry out an attack on a police station in northwestern Pakistan that killed 10 people, a rare instance of militants using a woman as a bomber.

The pair entered the police station in Kolachi on Saturday and said they were there to lodge a complaint, said Imtiaz Shah, a senior police official. Once inside, the two attacked with grenades and machine guns, triggering a five-hour stand-off with police.

Both attackers, including the woman, who was wearing a burqa, eventually blew themselves up. They killed eight police officers and two civilians, said Mohammad Hussain, another police official.

"This shows how much we hate Pakistani security institutions," Pakistani Taliban spokesman Ahsanullah Ahsan said.

He also claimed it was the first time the militant group had used a woman suicide bomber. That tactic has been used regularly in Iraq because militants believe that security guards are wary of searching women at security points.

Also yesterday, a bomb planted in a motorcycle exploded near a police station in the central city of Multan, said Zahid Zaman, a senior government official.

The blast wounded eight people, including four police officials, said Wasim Hashmi, chief of the rescue squad in Multan. No group has claimed responsibility.