Bomb explodes in Pakistan injuring judge

A bomb rigged to a bicycle exploded near a car carrying a judge in eastern Pakistan on Friday, seriously wounding him and killing at least three people, police and doctors said.

Mian Bashir Bhatti, a judge of the anti-terrorist court who often hears cases against militants and suspected terrorists, was traveling to his court in central Multan when the bomb went off, said Shaukat Ali, the city police chief.

In addition to the judge, seven other people were wounded in the blast, one of whom later died in a hospital, Ali said, without identifying the man, the AP says. 

Munir Chishti, the district police chief, said the bomb was tied to a bicycle parked on a road, and that the device was remotely detonated by "terrorists" to target the judge and the police.

He declined to say who might have been behind the attack.

Dr. Fahim Javed at the state Nishtar Hospital said Bhatti was in a critical condition, and identified the other two who died as Mohammed Iqbal, Bhatti's driver, and Ijaz Ahmed, a policeman who was escorting the judge's car on a motorcycle. Both died at the scene of the attack.

Pakistan has witnessed a string of bomb and suicide attacks in recent weeks, amid suspicion that pro-Taliban militants are demonstrating opposition to Islamabad's support of the U.S.-led war on terror.

On Feb. 18, a suicide bomber blew himself up inside a courtroom in the southwestern city of Quetta, killing a judge and 15 other people.