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KARACHI, March 2 (AFP): A suicide car bomber rammed into a diplomatic vehicle outside the US consulate in the southern Pakistani city of Karachi Thursday, killing an American diplomat and four other people, officials said.
The attack came two days before US President George W. Bush was due to make a high-security visit to Pakistan, an important ally in the US-led "war on terror".
Bush himself announced that a US diplomat had died in the attack at a news conference in the Indian capital New Delhi, where he is on the second leg of a South Asian tour that has also taken in Afghanistan.
"I have been briefed on the bombings and we have lost at least one US citizen in the bombings-a foreign service officer," Bush said following talks with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
But he vowed to continue with his visit, saying "terrorists and killers are not going to prevent me from going to Pakistan".
A Pakistan security official told AFP on condition of anonymity that a US consulate vehicle "was apparently hit by a suicide car bomber, blowing it into the air".
The blast ripped through the car park of the nearby five- star Marriott Hotel in the city's highest security zone, destroying at least 10 cars, damaging others, including some from the US mission, and smashing windows.
Islamic militants opposed to President Pervez Musharraf's close ties to Bush have launched frequent attacks on the US consulate. A suicide car bomb outside the building in June 2002 killed 12 Pakistanis.
Haider said there was only one "powerful" bomb in Thursday's attack and that an exploding petrol tank caused a second, low- intensity blast heard shortly afterwards.
Clouds of black smoke spewed from the blazing cars in the Marriott car park and charred vehicle parts were strewn across the area as paramedics and firefighters rushed to the scene.
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