A suicide bomber blew himself up in a busy commercial area near the Army's General Headquarters in the garrison city of Rawalpindi on Monday, killing at least 34 people, including military personnel, in the latest in a series of deadly terrorist attacks that have rocked Pakistan.

The motorcycle-borne bomber detonated his explosives outside a state-run bank, causing considerable damage to the facade of Shalimar Hotel on Mall Road, less than a kilometre from the army's fortified General Headquarters that was besieged by a group of terrorists nearly a month ago.