A special team of Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) officials reached here Wednesday morning to meet with high-ranking police and civil officers and discuss the suicide car bombing on Monday that targeted an American vehicle.
Four employees of US Consulate in Peshawar, including two US citizens, were killed in the bombing, according to two provincial ministers and several other sources; however, the US Embassy in Islamabad said that the four staff members were seriously injured and under treatment. Apart from the dead, 20 others have been reportedly injured in the attack – the fourth of its kind in the same posh locality of Peshawar in a period of five years. Highly-placed official sources told Pakistan Today that the visiting US officials reached Peshawar in a heavily guarded vehicle. Sources said that soon after arriving, the FBI officials approached the deputy inspector general of police (Investigation) and sought a meeting to discuss the attack. However, the DIG, who is also the chief of Bomb Disposal Squad, refused to meet the visitors, saying that he was performing his duties as an officer of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government, and the visiting experts should instead approach the government. He added that it would be difficult for him to extend help to the team without taking the government into confidence. However, the American team later entered Police Lines, where they held a long meeting with Capital City Police Officer Imtiaz Altaf. The meeting focused on the recent suicide bombing in the posh locality of University Town. During the visit of American officials, police blocked several important roads and routes for traffic. The security in and around KP Civil Secretariat, Central Police Offices and Police Lines was further tightened.
