Lawmaker’s home bombed in Pakistan; 15 dead

A suicide bomber attacked a lawmaker’s house in eastern Pakistan on Monday, killing at least 15 people and wounding more than 50, officials and a witness said.

The blast was the latest in a string of bombings against government, military and Western targets in Pakistan, an important ally in the U.S. war on terror.

It came as Pakistan insisted Monday it has not made a deal allowing the United States to fire missiles at militant hide-outs in Pakistani territory after The Wall Street Journal quoted President Asif Ali Zardari as suggesting otherwise.

Zardari also told the Journal that “India has never been a threat” to his country, and called Islamist militant groups in the disputed Kashmir region “terrorists.”

The reported comments could undermine Zardari just a month into his presidency, especially with Pakistan’s powerful military. Pakistan’s army traditionally views India as its No. 1 enemy and has denied making any agreement with the U.S. on cross-border operations.

The newspaper paraphrased Zardari as saying the U.S. has been carrying out missile strikes on Pakistani soil with his government’s consent.

“We have an understanding, in the sense that we’re going after an enemy together,” it then quotes him as saying. The interview appeared Saturday.

Farhatullah Babar, a spokesman for Zardari, said the journalist had read too much into Zardari’s comment and that the president was talking in generalities about fighting terrorism.