Bomb attacks kill 53 in Pakistan
Agence France Presse, 30 June, 2013

Bomb attacks have killed 53 people in Pakistan, as David Cameron called for tough action against terrorism during a visit to the capital.

In the two deadliest attacks a suicide bomber killed 28 people at a checkpoint near a Shia Muslim mosque in the southwestern city of Quetta, and a car bombing killed 17 in the northwest.

The combined toll marked the deadliest day for more than four months in the nuclear-armed state, which is battling homegrown extremism and is on the frontline of the US-led war against Al-Qaeda.

In Quetta, officials said a suicide bomber tried to access a Shiite mosque in the congested Hazara town, a mainly Shiite community on the edge of the city, but was intercepted at a checkpoint.

"Twenty-eight people have been killed and more than 51 others are injured," said senior police official Mir Zubair.

"Nine women, a minor girl and four boys were also killed in the attack," Mr Zubair told reporters.

Baluchistan provincial home secretary Akbar Hussain Durrani said the bomber blew himself up at a checkpoint set up by a local neighbourhood volunteers around 50 yards away from the mosque. [.....]