Three suicide bombers on Monday blew themselves up in a busy commercial area near the Army headquarters in Rawalpindi and at a police checkpost in Lahore killing at least 37 people, including military personnel, and injuring 70, in the latest of a series of terrorist attacks here.

A motorcycle-borne bomber detonated his explosives outside a state-run bank in Rawalpindi, less than a kilometer from the heavily-fortified General Headquarters, killing 35 people, mostly pensioners and Army personnel.

Police said the motorcycle bomber drove into the pensioners, who had come to collect their salaries from the National Bank, and blew himself up.

Rescue service officials put the toll at 35, while police said 45 injured were taken to nearby hospitals. Most of those killed were Army personnel.

The attack came nearly a month after an audacious terrorist strike on the General Headquarters in which 14 people were killed before most of the attackers were gunned down by Army commandos.

Military police and paramilitary personnel cordoned off the area and diverted traffic from the road in front of the hotel.

In the evening, two suicide bombers blew themselves up when their car was stopped by policemen on the outskirts of Lahore injuring at least 15. Police said no one was dead in the attack barring the two bombers.

Quoting an eyewitness, Lahore police chief Pervez Rathore said that the two attackers, who were in a car, detonated their explosives when policemen stopped them at a checkpost at Babu Sabu outside the city.

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