Two massive suicide bombs exploded yesterday moments after Pakistani President General Pervez Musharraf's motorcade passed, the second assassination attempt against him in 11 days, officials said.

　　The president's car was damaged but he was unhurt. At least 14 passers-by were killed and 46 people injured.

　　The blast came just a day after Musharraf agreed to step down as army chief by the end of 2004.

　　"It was an assassination attempt on the president," said General Shaukat Sultan, the chief army spokesman. "It was a suicide attack."

　　He said two suicide bombers detonated explosives hidden in pickup trucks as the president's motorcade passed two nearby gas stations on a main road in Rawalpindi, a bustling city near the capital, Islamabad.

　　Eyewitnesses reported seeing body parts, shattered cars and broken glass along the route.

　　"Thanks be to God, (the president) and members of his convoy are safe," Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed said in a short announcement made on Pakistani television.

　　Ahmed said the windscreen on Musharraf's armored limousine was damaged, and a car at the end of his motorcade was severely damaged, but the president's vehicle continued on its way.

　　"There has been a security lapse," Ahmed said. "Authorities will investigate, but there has definitely been a lapse."

　　Ahmed said that Musharraf had returned to Army House, the heavily fortified official residence of the army chief in Rawalpindi, and that he was safe. The road where the attack occurred is one used nearly every day by Musharraf as he travels from his residence to his presidential offices.

　　Abdur Rauf Chaudry, a spokesman for the Interior Ministry, said 14 people were killed, including two policemen. At least two suicide bombers were also killed, and 46 people injured.

　　"The president's motorcade had just passed and about half a minute later the explosion went off," one eyewitness, Nasir Sadiqi, told Pakistan's Geo television.

　　Police and soldiers quickly cordoned off the area and ambulances rushed to the site.

　　The blast occurred at 1:40pm just 300 meters from the spot where would-be assassins detonated a huge bomb on December 14 in another failed attempt to kill Musharraf. High-tech jamming devices in the president's motorcade apparently delayed the detonation long enough for him to pass by safely.

　　Islamic militant groups were believed to be behind that attack, though no major arrests have been made.

　　Government officials have speculated that al-Qaida might have had a hand in the first attempt, which employed a sophisticated bomb hidden in five places on a bridge.