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Pakistanis killed as car bomber aims at US consulate staff

US officials said two Americans and two Pakistani workers were injured but contradicted a Pakistani minister who had earlier claimed that two Americans died.

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A suicide car bomber killed two people in an attack on an American consulate vehicle in Pakistan yesterday (Monday) in one of the deadliest recent attacks on US interests in the country.

US officials said two Americans and two Pakistani workers were injured but contradicted a Pakistani minister who had earlier claimed that two Americans died.

Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, said: "We deplore the cowardly act of suicide bombing and terrorism that has affected so many people around the world and which we must all stand against."

No one had claimed responsibility for the attack in the north-western city of Peshawar in which two Pakistanis and the bomber died 19 people were injured.

Witnesses said a car packed with explosives rammed into a four-wheel-drive vehicle as it emerged from the American consulate, close to United Nations offices. Police said the blast was so powerful the vehicle must have been crammed with more than 200lb of explosives.

The armoured consulate vehicle was reduced to a charred, smoking shell.

Richard Hoagland, the US embassy's charge d'affaires, paid tribute to local security forces who pulled the two American and two Pakistani occupants to safety.

"In this dangerous world where terrorists can strike at any moment, we must all work together - Pakistanis and Americans alike - because we have a strong mutual interest in defeating terrorism," he said.

The attack was at least the third time that the consulate and its staff have been targets for militants linked to the Taliban and al-Qaeda since April 2010. Peshawar is close to the Afghan border and on the edge of Pakistan's lawless tribal areas.

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