14 dead in Musharraf assassination bid: interior minister

0 Comments | AFP, December, 2003

ISLAMABAD (AFP) — Fourteen people were killed in suicide blasts intended to kill Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf on Thursday, Interior Minister Faisal Saleh Hayat said, raising the death toll from seven.

"Around 14 people have died and 46 injured," Hayat told state broadcaster Pakistan Television (PTV) after the attack in the northern city of Rawalpindi.

"The blast was of high magnitude, rescue work is under way," he said.

A senior police official told state media that each of the two vehicles which rammed the president's motorcade were carrying about 25-30 kilograms of explosives.

The vehicles were waiting at a Total petrol station and a state-owned Pakistan State Oil filling station.

A concrete barrier dividing the road and three...