Islamabad bans pillion riding in wake of terror attacks

Pillion riding on two-wheelers has been banned in Pakistan's capital Islamabad to thwart a possible terror strike, a media report said Friday.

Interior Minister Rehman Malik issued orders banning pillion riding in Islamabad over "concerns of terrorist attacks", Geo TV quoted sources as saying.

He also directed officials to beef up checking of vehicles within the high security red zone area and also at all entrances to Islamabad.

The decision comes following a spate of terror attacks in the country since the beginning of this month.

Pakistan Thursday vowed revenge after the Taliban laid siege to Lahore city with audacious and simultaneous attacks on three police establishments that killed 25 people, including 10 of the attackers. Suicide bombers claimed 11 more lives elsewhere in the country.

On Oct 10, terrorists had laid siege to the Pakistan Army HQ in Rawalpindi adjacent to Islamabad, taking 42 officers and soldiers hostage. The two-day standoff ended with 19 people, including a brigadier and a lieutenant colonel, being killed.

The day before a suicide bomber detonated a car stuffed with explosives in a busy market of Peshawar, killing 53 people and injuring over 100.

On Oct 5, a suicide bomber blew himself up at the UN World Food Programme office in Islamabad, killing five people.