Taliban blow up car bomb near ISI office, kill 25

ISLAMABAD: A car heavily laden with explosives went off near the office of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), Pakistan’s spy agency, killing at least 25 people and wounding more than 120 in Faisalabad on Tuesday.
Pakistani Taliban took the responsibility of the attack. Taliban insurgents have frequently attacked civilian and military targets across the country as Pakistan battles extremism.The blast took place at a CNG (compressed natural gas) filling station where the car with explosives was parked.
The blast left a nine-foot deep crater and gutted the filling station, damaging several vehicles and nearby buildings including offices of ISI and Pakistan International Airlines (PIA). The gas station was close to a regional office of the ISI directorate in Faisalabad. Officials say the ISI offices might have been the target.
Although ISI offices and Pakistan’s military bases have been frequently targeted by militants elsewhere in Pakistan, this is the first attack on a security establishment in Faisalabad, 260km from Islamabad, and known as “textile city’’. Last week, thousands of Christians, apart from diplomats and top officials gathered in Faisalabad, hometown of Pakistan’s slain minorities minister Shahbaz Bhatti, gunned down in Islamabad.
The injured were taken to hospitals and a city-wide emergency was declared.