Police defuse huge bomb near US Consulate in Pakistan

Explosive experts defused a large bomb today in a van parked next to the heavily guarded US Consulate in Karachi, in southern Pakistan.

It was not immediately clear who planted the device, though Islamic extremist groups have repeatedly targeted Westerners and minority Christians since the government threw its support behind the US-led war on terrorism.

The thwarted attack came ahead of a scheduled visit to Pakistan by the US Secretary of State Colin Powell, who is due to arrive in the country on Wednesday.

Officials said a paramilitary ranger guarding the consulate had spotted a Suzuki van with one or two people inside just outside from its perimeter wall. Before they could be questioned properly, the men were picked up in a car and fled.

The van, which contained a large blue water tank filled with explosives, was moved to a safe place and police bomb experts disconnected a timer and detonators attached to the tank.

Karachi police official Mohammed Irfan said the tank contained about 200 gallons of a liquid explosive material, adding: "We saved this place from big destruction."

Police said it was a mixture of three chemicals, including ammonium nitrate - a fertilizer that can be used as an explosive. The bomb could have caused a huge fireball, and police were investigating when it had been timed to detonate.

Hundreds of policemen and paramilitary troops cordoned off the consulate, on a main road in an upscale neighborhood of Karachi, and checked the area for additional explosives. The building is surrounded by high walls and lies about 40 feet back from the road.

Andrew Steinfeld, a spokesman at the US Embassy in Islamabad, said the bomb was discovered between 7 a.m. and 8 a.m before most of the consulate's two dozen American and Pakistani staff had arrived for work.

"There was a bomb found in a truck in the early morning. Police removed it and Pakistani authorities are investigating," he said.

In June 2002, a suicide bomber blew up a truck in front of the US Consulate, killing 14 Pakistanis. The attack came a month after another suicide attack outside a hotel that killed 11 French engineers.

In February 2003, a gunman opened fire on a police post guarding the consulate, killing two policemen and injuring at least five other people. He was arrested with a note in his pocket saying it was his duty as a Muslim to kill the protectors of infidel Americans.

Pakistan's President Gen. Pervez Musharraf narrowly escaped two suicide bombings near Islamabad in December 2003. Another attack the previous year in Karachi failed when an explosives-laden vehicle failed to detonate as Musharraf's motorcade passed by.