Seventeen people were injured when a powerful bomb exploded in the Pakistani city of Rawalpindi on Thursday, police and hospital sources said.
The explosion occurred in a crowded market, spreading panic in the area, the police said.
The bomb, which had been planted outside a public toilet, went off at 6.15 pm (1315 GMT) during the evening rush hour, police said.
A doctor at a nearby government-run hospital said two of the 17 injured were in a serious condition.
Witnesses said police and troops immediately cordoned off the area as bomb disposal experts searched for clues.
No one immediately claimed responsibility for the blast, which came about six weeks after a similar explosion in an Islamabad fruit and vegetable market which killed 16 and injured nearly 80 people.
Around 30 bomb blasts have hit Pakistan this year, claiming more than two dozen lives. Most had been blamed by Pakistan on neighboring India.
Pakistani border rangers in August arrested a gang of "Indian-sponsored terrorists" in the eastern city of Lahore.
India and Pakistan have fought three wars since 1947, two of them over Kashmir, the Himalayan state divided between the two countries and claimed by both.
The neighbors routinely accuse rival intelligence networks of carrying out cross-border sabotage and subversion attacks -- ISLAMABAD (AFP)
© 2000 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
