2 Rockets Defused at Pakistan Parliament

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan – Two rockets rigged with mobile phones and primed to fire toward Pakistan's parliament were discovered by a construction worker Thursday and safely defused by bomb disposal experts, a security official said.

The security scare in Islamabad came hours after a homemade bomb exploded without injury in a park in the neighboring city of Rawalpindi, not far from a residence of President Gen. Pervez Musharraf.

A construction worker found the rockets on a lawn less than a half-scene from the National Assembly, the official said at the scene. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to speak to media.

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The assembly is near government ministries, the prime minister's official residence and the president's office.

As the rockets were being defused, Musharraf was appearing live on television at a conference about earthquake reconstruction held in a convention center about 1.3 miles away.

Police blocked roads to the assembly. About a dozen soldiers were guarding the area, which was sectioned off with yellow tape.

Islamabad police spokesman Naeem Iqbal said that "something like rockets" had been found near the parliament, but that officials were still determining the exact type.

A senior police officer said the two rockets were found near a building under construction. Speaking on condition of anonymity in line with policy, he said several workers from the construction site were being questioned, though none was suspected of planting the rockets.

Security officials took video footage and photographs of the scene before the rockets were placed in a special bomb disposal container on a trailer, which was towed away by an army jeep.

Islamic militants have targeted Musharraf in at least three assassination attempts, including two Rawalpindi bombings in December 2003 in which the president narrowly escaped injury but 16 others died. The attacks were linked to Al Qaeda.

Musharraf recently returned from a high-profile trip to the United States, where he met with President Bush and launched his autobiography.