Twin car bomb attacks kill 16 in NW Pakistan

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (Reuters) - Two car-bomb blasts killed at least 16 people in northwestern Pakistan on Saturday, evidence militants still have power to strike despite the death of a top Talibancommander last month.

A suicide bomber sitting in an explosives-laden car threw a hand-grenade toward a crowd of people in the main northwestern city of Peshawar before detonating about 100 kg of explosives in the vehicle.

"Ten people have been killed and 71 wounded, five of them critically," Sahibzada Anis, the top government administrator of the city told Reuters.

The attack took place in the carpark of a commercial building close to a military hospital.

Television footage showed car parts and debris from nearby buildings scattered over the road. An elderly man wearing a blood-stained shirt was seen helping a wounded young woman walking away from the scene of the blast.

"It was terrible. My children are very frightened. All the windows of my house are broken. It was very frightening," Beenish Asad, a housewife living near the site of the blast told Reuters by telephone.

Police said they detained two suspects at the scene.