Islamabad: A suicide bomber today blew himself up close to the official residence of Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf in the garrison city of Rawalpindi, killing at least seven people and injuring 24 others.

Army personnel immediately cordoned off the blast site on G T Road in the high-security cantonment area, about half a kilometre from the Army House, where Musharraf was chairing a meeting of Chief Ministers and Governors of the four provinces and top army officers at the time of the attack.

The suspected bomber, believed to be on a bicycle, blew himself up when he was stopped by policemen manning a picket near the residence of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee Tariq Majid, Capital City Police Officer Saud Aziz said.

"We have collected the legs, head and the fingers of the suicide attacker and sent for identification," Aziz said, adding that the bomber probably intended to target the top army official's residence.

Interior Ministry spokesman Javed Iqbal Cheema told reporters that seven people were killed in the attack. He said the bomber was believed to be aged between 19 and 23.

"It was a suicide attack," Railway Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed said. The blast, which also left 24 people injured, hit a van that was passing by the area. A nearby wall was pockmarked by scores of holes created by the shrapnels from the bomb. Ambulances rushed to the site and ferried the injured to nearby hospitals.

Source : Agencies