The blasts, one of which was caused by a suicide bomber, occurred just after midnight in an area of the city that is home to political offices and army housing.
The attack took place as Central Intelligence Agency Director Leon Panetta and Afghan President Hamid Karzai visited Islamabad, 95 miles to the east, to speak separately with senior Pakistani officials about intelligence sharing and efforts to reconcile with the Taliban.
No group claimed responsibility, but the Pakistani Taliban have pledged to carry out attacks in retaliation for the covert US Navy SEAL raid that killed bin Laden on May 2.
The attack followed a second day of meetings. The talks were slated to focus on the size and scope of US intelligence activities, said a Pakistani official, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.
The bin Laden operation plunged an already strained relationship between the CIA and Pakistan‘s main intelligence agency, the ISI, to new lows and threatened cooperation that is key to the US fight against al Qaeda and Taliban militants battling foreign troops in Afghanistan.
The US also needs Pakistan’s help to promote and guide negotiations with the Taliban that can help end the decade-long Afghan war. Pakistan and Afghanistan inaugurated a joint peace commission Saturday during a visit by Karzai.
In an attempt to rebuild their relationship, Washington and Islamabad have agreed to form a joint intelligence team to track down militant targets inside Pakistan, drawing in part from the trove of records taken from bin Laden‘s personal office during the raid.
(아주경제 앤드류 이 기자)
Copyright ⓒ Aju Press All rights reserved.