The November 2009 Rawalpindi bombing was a suicide attack carried out in front of the Mall Road branch of
National Bank of Pakistan in
Rawalpindi
Rawalpindi ( or ; Urdu, ) is a city in the Punjab province of Pakistan. It is the fourth largest city in Pakistan after Karachi, Lahore and Faisalabad, and third largest in Punjab after Lahore and Faisalabad. Rawalpindi is next to Pakistan's ...
,
Pakistan. The blast area was considered to be a very safe and high-security place. Tehrik-i-Taliban was blamed for this deadly blast, which occurred when the Pakistan government announced £3m in rewards for the capture of the Taliban leadership.
Blast
The blast was done through a suicide bomber, who was riding a motorcycle and blew himself up outside a local bank, situated near Shalimar and the Pearl Continental hotels.
A witness to the blast said, "We were sitting on the second floor of our office. It was a huge blast, our building shook as if in an earthquake, and when we came out there was smoke everywhere and body parts were thrown into our office."
Rescue teams arrived at the blast area and an emergency was declared in major hospitals. Many education institutions were closed in the city and security teams were deployed in the sensitive areas.
Reaction
The blast provoked condemnations from President
Asif Ali Zardari,
Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gillani, and many religious leaders and local politicians.
See also
*
List of terrorist incidents in Pakistan since 2001
*
List of terrorist incidents, 2009
This is a timeline of incidents in 2009 that have been labelled as "terrorism" and are not believed to have been carried out by a government or its forces (see state terrorism and state-sponsored terrorism).
Guidelines
* To be included, entr ...
*
December 2009 Rawalpindi attack
The December 2009 Rawalpindi attack in Rawalpindi, Pakistan was a terrorist attack on a mosque during Friday prayers on 4 December 2009. The mosque is located near the Pakistan Army's headquarters in Rawalpindi, is surrounded by military hou ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rawalpindi bombing
21st-century mass murder in Pakistan
Mass murder in 2009
Terrorist incidents in Pakistan in 2009
Suicide bombings in Pakistan
Crime in Punjab, Pakistan
Terrorist incidents in Rawalpindi
History of Rawalpindi
Attacks on buildings and structures in Pakistan
Building bombings in Pakistan