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Militants Attack Government Office in Pakistan


A man prepares graves for the burial of victims of Saturday's bomb attack in a Shi'ite Muslim area, in the Pakistani city of Quetta, February 17, 2013.
A man prepares graves for the burial of victims of Saturday's bomb attack in a Shi'ite Muslim area, in the Pakistani city of Quetta, February 17, 2013.
Officials in Pakistan say militants wearing police uniforms have attacked the office of a senior government official in the northwestern city of Peshawar, killing at least five people and wounding seven.

Authorities say at least two of the insurgents were suicide bombers who detonated their devices Monday, while other militants opened fire on the compound's security forces.

The dead include four of the security officials and an elderly man.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, but the Pakistani Taliban has carried out similar operations in the past.

Elsewhere in Pakistan Monday, Shi'ites in Quetta have refused to bury victims of a bloody bombing that killed at least 80 people and wounded more than 100 others. They have demanded that security forces protect them from the extremists behind the attack.

Thousands of people have joined in the protest. Muslim tradition requires that bodies are buried as soon as possible, and leaving them above ground is a powerful expression of grief and pain.

The Sunni militant group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi has claimed responsibility for Saturday's bombing, as well as a similar attack last month that killed nearly 100 people.

Meanwhile, a strike Monday to protest against the bombing in Quetta has brought Pakistan's largest city, Karachi, to a standstill.

Sectarian violence claimed more than 400 lives in Pakistan last year.
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