Airport Bombing Narrowly Foiled

Security workers foiled an attempted bombing in the crowded VIP lounge of Islamabad’s international airport, snatching up a briefcase left lying at travelers’ feet with a ticking time bomb inside, police said.

Security forces rushed the briefcase to a special bunker in an airport parking lot and hurled it into a bin inside, where it exploded, airport security chief Col. Ashraf Faiz said. The blast slightly damaged a few cars, but there were no injuries.

The lounge had been crowded with about 150 passengers and friends and families seeing them off, Faiz said. “It could have been a tragic incident if a security official had not spotted it,” he said.