PTI
 
Karachi, Mar 2: Terror struck Pakistan two days before President George W Bush’s visit, when two near-simultaneous blasts, including a suspected suicide car bomb, ripped through a parking lot near the US Consulate in Karachi on Thursday killing at least four people, including an American diplomat, and injuring 50 others.

Bush, who is on a three-day visit to India, said he will go ahead with his trip to Pakistan as scheduled.

"Terrorists and killers cannot prevent me from going to Pakistan," he said in New Delhi, disclosing that one American diplomat was among the dead.

The explosions that rocked the high-security zone around 9 a.m. took place in the parking area of the Marriot Hotel, about 20 metres away from the Consulate.

At least one of the blasts is thought to have been caused by a car bomb, officials said adding they were investigating the motives behind it.

Although no terrorist outfit has taken responsibility for the explosions, officials feel that it was apparently timed to coincide with the visit of Bush on Saturday.

Provincial Health Minister Shabbir Qaimkhani said that four people including a woman were killed in the explosions.