Three killed in Peshawar suicide attack

At least Three dead in Peshawar blast

The bomber was riding in a rickshaw when the explosion took place.

Updated at: 1030 PST, Monday, November 09, 2009|| www.thenews.com.pk

PESHAWAR: At least three people were killed in a blast at Patang Chawk area of Peshawar in the limits of Faqirabad police station, Geo News reported Monday.

According to reports, at least three people were killed in the blast at a police picket set up on Ring Road.

The relief activities were kickstarted. Soon after the blast, the police put a security cordon around the blast site. Meantime, the injured have been rushed to hospital. The injured include a child.

Talking to Geo News, AIG Bomb Disposal Squad Shafquat Malik said at least 5-6 kilogram of explosives were used in the blast.

The suicide bomber blew him up when a police signaled him to pull over at a police picket.

Capital City Police Officer Liaquat Ali confirmed the killings of three people including a rickshaw driver, police and a passer-by.

AIG Bomb Disposal Squad said the suicide attacker apparently did not aim at targeting the police picket; he must be heading for somewhere else; however, he blew him up due to strict police checking.

Revival of Pak Terrorist in Peshawar.

Suicide bomb near Peshawar kills at least 12, wounds 35

Sunday, 08 Nov, 2009

‘PESHAWAR: At least 12 people, including a UC nazim, were killed and 35 others injured when a suicide bomber blew himself up at the cattle market in Adezai area on the outskirts of the city on Sunday.

Police sources said it appeared that the bomber’s main target was Adezai Nazim Abdul Malik who was earlier a Taliban sympathiser but turned against the terrorists.

Mr Malik had organised an armed lashkar against militants in the Peshawar frontier region. He survived several attacks in recent past.

DCO Sahibzada Mohammad Anis said that Mr Malik appeared to be the main target.

A cattle market is held in Adezai every Sunday.

Mr Malik was visiting the crowded market when the bomber detonated the explosives.

Some people said the nazim was on Taliban’s hit list and he should not have come to the market.

‘He was under threat and Taliban were not willing to spare him,’ Ameerullah, who was among the injured, said.

Witnesses said that guards of the nazim tried unsuccessfully to stop the man from going near Mr Malik. The guards tried to overpower the man and then the blast took place, Imtiaz Khan said.

Jafer Shah, who was injured in the explosion, said he had noticed a man in white car parked near the market.

‘We thought that the person was Abdul Malik’s guard,’ he said. ‘I think he was the
bomber.’

A large number of people from adjoining villages were in the market to buy animals for the upcoming Eidul Azha.

The injured people were taken to hospitals in ambulances and vans. Dr Abdul Hameed Afridi, chief executive of the Lady Reading Hospital, said that 35 injured people had been brought to the hospital. Eight of them were said to be in a critical condition.

Some of the injured people blamed the district administration for the incident and said that despite threats from militants operating from Darra Adamkhel, not a single policeman had been deployed at the market.

Agencies add: The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it was to ‘punish’ Abdul Malik for having raised a militia against the Taliban.

‘We accept the responsibility for the Peshawar suicide attack,’ TTP spokesman Azam Tariq told AFP by phone from an undisclosed location.

‘Abdul Malik has met his fate, and if anybody else dares to raise a lashkar (militia) against us, he will be dealt (with) in same manner.’

‘We have not been defeated in Swat, nor in South Waziristan,’ he said.

‘After the suicide attacks the government should be clear about our capability… We will launch more attacks in different parts of the country.’

Pak Military takes holds, Terrorists in back foot ?

Twelve militants killed in South Waziristan clashes

Saturday, 07 Nov, 2009

ISLAMABAD: The military said Saturday it had killed 12 Taliban militants as government troops pressed a major offensive in the South Waziristan tribal area bordering Afghanistan.

Some 30,000 troops backed by fighter jets and helicopter gunships launched a fierce air and ground offensive into the northwest region three weeks ago and the military has since claimed a series of successes.

It said troops on Friday penetrated into Makin, the hometown of slain Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud who was killed along with some of his family members in a missile strike fired by a US drone on August 5.

Security forces were also consolidating their positions at Sararogha and its surrounding heights in the rugged mountainous region, the military’s media wing said in a statement.

‘In last 24 hours, 12 terrorists have been killed, and five soldiers including two officers were injured,’ the statement said.

The strategic town of Sararogha was a former operational base of Mehsud.

Security forces also captured a 30-feet long tunnel and ‘plenty of ammunition has been discovered and destroyed’, the statement said.

Pakistan, vowing to crush Tehrik-i-Taliban in the region, said so far 458 Taliban fighters and 42 troops had been killed in the offensive.

The casualty figures cannot be verified because communication lines are down and journalists and aid workers are barred from the area.

South Waziristan has been dubbed by Washington as the most dangerous place in the world because of an abundance of Al-Qaeda and Taliban fighters.

The long-awaited assault on South Waziristan came after a spring offensive in the northwestern Swat valley. In July, the government declared the offensive a success but sporadic outbreaks of violence have continued in the valley.

The South Waziristan offensive has displaced more than 250,000 people and the United Nations has urged Pakistan to ensure safety and security of civilians during the operation.

Army brigadier, driver injured in Islamabad gun-attack

By Mohammad Asghar
Saturday, 07 Nov, 2009

SSP Islamabad Police Tahir Malik told DawnNews that both the brigadier and his driver have been shifted to a hospital and are now in stable condition. — Photo by Reuters.

ISLAMABAD: A brigadier and his driver were injured when two men opened fire on his private car here on Friday.

The attackers escaped on a motorbike despite extensive police patrol and checkpoints in the capital.

Brig Hafiz Sohail was going to his office along with his driver Ramzan when the gunmen ambushed his car in sector I-8/4.

The car veered off the road and hit an under-construction building.

The injured men trapped in the car were pulled out and taken to the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences where they were stated to be in stable condition.

However, the driver was operated upon and shifted to the Combined Military Hospital.

This was the third attack on an army officer in the federal capital over the past two weeks.

None of the assailants has been arrested so far.

A police official told Dawn that a gunman ambushed the car from the green belt in I-8/4 and escaped with his accomplice who was waiting for him on a motorbike.

The SP said: ‘We have found a 9mm pistol and some casings, including those of SMG, from the scene.’

One security official claimed that it was a general, not targeted, attack.

Thirteen injured in Quetta grenade blast

Saturday, 07 Nov, 2009

Security officials survey the site of a grenade attack at Meezan Chowk in Quetta. Two children and one security man was among those injured in the attack on a checkpoint. – Reuters photo

QUETTA: Thirteen people including two children and a security personnel sustained injuries when a hand grenade exploded at Mizan Chowk, a central commercial area of the provincial capital here on Saturday evening.

According to Quetta police, militants hurled a hand grenade at a check post of Frontier Corps established in Mizan Chowk in the evening when the area was thronged by customers. As a result, thirteen people received injuries; out of them two were seriously injured.

The injured were rushed to Civil Hospital Quetta. According to doctors, the condition of two of the injured was serious while the remaining people were out of danger.

Some police officials who inspected the site after the blast, told newsmen that militants might have hurled hand grenade from the roof a building as no evidence could be found of whether they were riding a bike or were on foot.

Earlier, on the same day before noon, militants hurled a hand grenade into the premises of a girls school located near Mannu Jan Road Quetta which injured two teachers and a student. The hand grenade fell at the roof. The security officials said that a bigger loss of life might have occurred if the explosive had fallen at the site where teachers and students were present.—APP

Courtesy : DAWN, APP, AFP, REUTERS.

Thirty militants killed in South Waziristan street battles

Thirty militants killed in South Waziristan street battles. News suppressed about the casualties of troops and civilians.

Wednesday, 04 Nov, 200904/11/09

ISLAMABAD: Troops were Wednesday locked in deadly street battles with Taliban fighters, pushing a ground offensive deeper into militant-held territory, the military said.

A senior military official told AFP the army had ‘taken’ the strategic town of Sararogha in the third week of fighting, while 30 insurgents were reported killed in the last 24 hours.

Pakistan has vowed to quash Tehrik-i-Taliban in South Waziristan, part of the border area with Afghanistan that Washington calls the most dangerous place in the world because of the abundance of Al-Qaeda and Taliban fighters.

Sararogha shot to infamy within the tribal belt as the operational centre of former Tehrik-i-Taliban warlord Baitullah Mehsud, who was killed in a US drone attack in August.

The military provides the only regular information coming from the frontlines. None of the details can be verified because communication lines are down and journalists and aid workers barred from the area.

Pakistan launched its fierce air and ground offensive into the northwest region on October 17, with some 30,000 troops backed by fighters jets and helicopter gunships laying siege to Tehrik-i-Taliban bolt-holes.

‘Today, security forces entered into the important stronghold of terrorists, the town of Ladha. Intense fighting is taking place in (the) streets,’ the military said in its daily update.

It said ‘security forces have cleared a major part’ of Sararogha, but a senior official in northwest Pakistan said the town had been captured.

So far, the military has claimed to have killed more than 390 militants since the operation began, with 45 troops losing their lives.

The long-anticipated assault into South Waziristan came after a spring offensive in and around the northwestern Swat valley, which the government declared a success in July. However, sporadic outbreaks of violence continue.

Militants kill two women teachers in Bajaur: officials

KHAR: Two women school teachers were killed Wednesday when armed militants ambushed their car in Pakistan’s troubled tribal region bordering Afghanistan, local officials said.

The women were travelling from the school they taught at in Khar — the main town in the northwestern tribal district of Bajaur — when insurgents bearing automatic weapons sprayed the vehicle with bullets.

‘Two women teachers were killed and two men were injured in the firing by militants,’ administration official Adalat Khan told AFP. Tribal police confirmed the incident.

Insurgents who oppose the education of girls have bombed and destroyed hundreds of northwestern schools in recent years.

Militants have recently stepped up activity in Bajaur, one of Pakistan’s seven semi-autonomous tribal districts straddling the Afghan border, which are considered a stronghold of Taliban and Al-Qaida-linked extremists.

Officials warned that the Taliban and their allies were increasing attacks in areas such as Bajaur to divert attention away from South Waziristan, the Taliban bastion where the military is conducting a major ground offensive.

A similar military assault in Bajaur starting in August 2008 ended in February with the army claiming success. But militant violence continues to rock the area.

Hundreds of extremists are believed to have fled into Pakistan’s semi-autonomous tribal areas to carve out safe havens after the ouster of Afghanistan’s hardline Taliban regime in a US-led invasion in 2001.— AFP

Courtsey : Dawn News, AFP, AP.

Blast near Pak army HQ in Rawalpindi, 34 killed, several injured

Huge blast hits Rawalpindi safe zone; 34 killed, 45 injured.

Posted: Monday , Nov 02, 2009 at 1424 hrs at  Islamabad:

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.

Rescue service officials put the death toll at 34 while police said 45 injured were taken to nearby hospitals.

Many people, including pensioners, who had come to the National Bank to collect their salaries and pensions were among those killed and injured in the blast that occurred at 10.40 am.

Police officials said the suicide bomber blew himself up outside the bank when police teams tried to intercept him.

Witnesses said at least two military police personnel, five women and several private security guards and passers-by were killed.

Several army officers’ messes, sensitive military installations and other hotels are located near Shalimar Hotel. Military police and paramilitary personnel cordoned off the area and diverted traffic from the road in front of the hotel.

Ambulances rushed bodies and the injured to hospitals, where an emergency was declared.

Several cars and motorcycles parked outside the hotel and the bank were damaged by the explosion, which also shattered the windows of nearby buildings.

Zahid Dara, who witnessed the attack, told reporters: “I fell off my motorcycle when the blast occurred. People began running helter-skelter in panic… I saw the blast had occurred outside the hotel, near which there are several banks, travel agencies and other offices”.

Dara said he had seen private security guards and army personnel among the dead and injured.

“Several people in cars that were passing the hotel were also killed,” he said.

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.

The attackers had also taken nearly 50 people hostage in an office of the Military Intelligence agency.

All schools in Rawalpindi were closed soon after the attack.

Pakistan has witnessed a series of deadly suicide attacks and bombings over the past few weeks that have killed hundreds of people.

Nearly 120 people, mostly women and children, were killed in a car bomb attack in a commercial hub in Peshawar last week.

Most of the attacks have been claimed by the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, against whom the army has launched a major offensive in the lawless South Waziristan tribal region.

The military says nearly 310 militants and about 35 soldiers have died so far in fighting in the area bordering Afghanistan.

Twin suicide attack in Lahore kills policemen, injured civilians.

Suicide bomber injures 10 police, 6 others in Lahore.

Policemen examine the site after suicide bombers blew themselves up at a police checkpoint near bus terminals in Lahore. -AFP Photo

Monday, 02 Nov, 2009

LAHORE: A suicide bomber blew himself up at a checkpost here on Monday, injuring 10 policemen and six others.

According to police, a white Suzuki car was entering the city after exiting the Babu Sabu interchange on Motorway II when it was signalled to stop for search at around 6:45pm on Bund Road.

A man came out of the vehicle and blew himself up and the other man on the driving seat was injured in the blast. He was taken to hospital in a serious condition.

An ASI and a constable were also said to be in a critical condition.

The incident took place on one of the most congested roads close to Babu Sabu interchange where heavy traffic plies within the city and outside.

Some motorists and a traffic warden were also injured in the blast and at least four vehicles were damaged.

Rescue 1122 and Edhi ambulances took the injured to Mayo and Services hospitals.

Capital City Police Officer Muhammad Pervez Rathore told Dawn that officials of the bomb disposal squad were determining the quantity and nature of explosives concealed in the car.
DIG (investigation) Shoaib Dastgir said forensic experts found a suicide belt, pellets, explosives and related material from the spot.

According to police, the bomber was thought to be 20 years of age. He was carrying at least 10 kg of explosives.

Thought not confirmed by the authorities it believed that two policemen lost their lives after succumbing critical injuries out of the blast missed the  target to an extent and not caused heavy casualties accordingly as the witnesses said.

Courtesy: Indian Express, Dawn News, AP, AFP, Others.

Death toll reaches 100 mark in Peshawar Car Bomb Blast.

Car bomb blast kills 86 in Peshawar

Wednesday, 28 Oct, 2009

PESHAWAR: A car bomb tore through a packed market in Peshawar on Wednesday, killing 86 people and trapping casualties under pulverised shops, in one of Pakistan’s deadliest attacks.

The explosion detonated in a crowded street in the Meena Bazaar of Peshawar, one of the most congested parts of the volatile northwest city, sparking a huge blaze and ending in carnage routine shopping trips for scores of people.

The attack underscored the scale of the militant threat in Pakistan just hours after US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrived in Islamabad for three days of talks with political and military leaders.

‘There was a huge blast. There was smoke and dust everywhere. I saw people dying and screaming on the road,’ witness Mohammad Siddique told AFP.

Angry flames leapt out of burning wreckage and smoke billowed in the air as a building collapsed into dust and rubble. Police evacuated panicked residents from the smouldering wreckage and firemen hosed down the flames.

‘It was a car bomb. Some people are still trapped in a building. We are trying to rescue them,’ bomb disposal official Shafqat Malik told reporters.

‘We have received 86 dead bodies, 213 people were injured, we are facing a shortage of blood,’ Doctor Hamid Afridi, head of the Peshawar’s main Lady Reading Hospital told AFP as staff declared an emergency.

A hospital official outside the casualty wing made a public announcement, appealing on people to donate blood as doctors spoke of harrowing scenes.

‘There are body parts. There are people. There are burnt people. There are dead bodies. There are wounded, I’m not in a position to count. But my estimate is that the death toll may rise to 70,’ said Doctor Muslim Khan.

Rescue workers and government officials had warned that casualties were trapped under collapsed shops at the bomb site, where a large blaze, a toppled building and the narrow streets hampered the relief effort.

‘I am counting the dead bodies, 86 are confirmed dead, the injured are more than 200, there are children and women among the dead,’ Mohammad Gul, a police official at the hospital, told AFP.

The area was one of the most congested parts of Peshawar and full of women’s clothing shops and general market stalls popular in the city of 2.5 million.

‘A building structure has collapsed… People are trapped in the fire and buildings. This is the most congested area of the city,’ Sahibzada Mohammad Anees, a senior local administrative official, told a private TV channel.

Peshawar, a teeming metropolis, is a gateway to Pakistan’s northwest tribal belt, where the military is pressing a major offensive against Pakistani Taliban militants blamed for some of the worst of the recent carnage.

Tensions have soared across Pakistan following a spike in violence blamed on Taliban and Al-Qaeda-linked extremists in which more than 240 people have died this month.

Read More … 

95 killed, over 200 injured in blast in Pak’s Peshawar city

Courtsey:~ Dawn, IndianExpress, AP, AFP.

Gunmen open fire on army vehicle in Islamabad

Tuesday, 27 Oct, 2009 || www.dawn.com

ISLAMABAD: Gunmen riding a motorbike Tuesday sprayed bullets into the car of an army brigadier in Pakistan’s capital Islamabad for a second time in less than a week, police said.

No one was hurt in the morning attack in the busy I-9 residential neighbourhood and the gunmen fled, police officer Khurshid Khan told AFP.

‘Two gunmen on a motorcycle sprayed bullets on the car of Brigadier Waqar Ahmed but he, his mother and his driver were unhurt,’ said Khan.

Tensions are high in Islamabad following a spike in attacks blamed on Taliban and Al-Qaeda-linked extremists which has left nearly 200 people dead this month in the frontline state in the US-led war on terror.

On Thursday, gunmen attacked an army jeep in Islamabad, killing a brigadier on leave from a UN peacekeeping mission in Sudan and his driver.

The military has been embarrassed by a series of recent attacks, including an audacious assault this month on the army headquarters in Rawalpindi claimed by the Tehreek-e-Taliban in Pakistan (TTP) movement.

Pakistan has vowed to crush the network, pressing an 11-day ground and air offensive targeting TTP in their South Waziristan stronghold along the Afghan border where Al-Qaeda is accused of plotting attacks on the West.— AFP

Balochistan education minister gunned down

Balcoh minister murder FIR lodged against unnamed offenders

Updated at: 1100 PST, Monday, October 26, 2009

QUETTA: The funeral prayer of slain education minister of Balochistan Shafiq Ahmed Khan will be said in Eid Gah located on Taloghi Road here at 2:30pm today and he will be laid to rest in his native Kasi graveyard, meanwhile, police claimed to have lodged the FIR of his murder case against unidentified assailants in Quaidabad police station, Geo news reported on Monday.

According to details, Baloch education minister and PPP leader Shafiq Ahmed Khan was gunned down by unknown culprits outside his home on Sunday afternoon.

Police sources said the case against unknown murderers was registered on complain of his brother Tahir Mehmood here in Quaidabad police station late on Sunday night.

Provincial home minister told Geo news, following the brutal murder of education minister, the security measures, all across province particularly in provincial capital Quetta, have been beefed up, meanwhile, four top-level teams have kicked off investigation into tragedy.

Anjuman of Balochistan Traders (ABT) has called for observance of complete shutter down strike to express protest and condolence with family of deceased minister which will be jointly backed by Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, sources said.

Also, city nazim Quetta has announced closure of all district government’s offices throughout city to express condolence over minister’s murder, sources added.

Mourners comfort each other at the house of slain Balochistan Education Minister Shafiq Ahmed Khan in Quetta. – Photo by AFP.

QUETTA: Balochistan’s Education Minister Shafiq Ahmed Khan was shot dead in front of his house here on Sunday. One of his close relatives was injured in the attack. Mr Khan, 55, belonged to the PPP.

 Read More………

Police official killed in blast

By Munawer Azeem || www.dawn.com
Sunday, 25 Oct, 2009 | 04:24 AM PST

ISLAMABAD, Oct 24: A Motorway Police officer died when terrorists riding a car blew up explosives on the M2 close to the Lillah Interchange near Kalar Kahar.

Officials were not sure whether the blast was caused by explosives planted in the vehicle or a terrorist wearing a suicide jacket.

Police said that they had prior information about two suspicious vehicles travelling on the Motorway.

Courtsey: The News || Dawn

Pakistan, Afghanistan, India, Turkey united against terrorism

Tackling Terrorism in Indian Sub-continent.

Friday, 23 Oct, 2009||www.dawn.com

updated on 26 Oct, 2009|| www.thenews.com.pk

UNITED NATIONS: In an unprecedented joint appearance on American television Thursday, UN ambassadors of Pakistan, Afghanistan and India said their governments have the same goal – to defeat terrorism.

‘We all come from the same crucible, the same history, the same background,’ Abdullah Hussain Haroon, the Pakistani ambassador to the UN, told CNN.

‘There may be minor differences of course but I think all three of us are well-intentioned.’ In comments echoed by the other ambassadors, Haroon added, ‘We all believe that these countries should get together and try and sort out this situation.’ The efforts of all, he said, are required ‘to help each other get through this difficult phase.’

The channel interviewed the ambassadors amid worsening violence in Afghanistan, an intense debate in the United States about troop levels there, a Pakistani military offensive against the Taliban after a string of terrorist attacks, and India still reeling from the assault on Mumbai almost one year ago.

The Indian ambassador to the United Nations, Hardeep Singh Puri, said that India was very restrained after the Mumbai attack, and that its restraint would continue.

‘There is no suggestion ever that a diversion of Pakistani military assets from one border to the other to fight the people who really need to be fought would result in any Indian adventurism, he said. ‘I don’t think that’s the kind of ambiance that we are presently in.’ Haroon said.

Pakistan’s armed forces are very stretched by the offensives against the Taliban. He said they are short of resources, in part because Western countries have failed to deliver on all their promises of aid. ‘I think that the Pakistanis feel there are too many caveats, too many conditions, and it does make it sound rather strange that aid is nowhere near the sort of $5 billion to $10 billion we need a year to be able to come back on our own,’ he said.

‘This is merely adding a crutch. Is that what we need at this time, a crutch? Or do we need something more promising?’ Ambassador Zahir Tanin of Afghanistan tried to persuade those Americans who are skeptical that they should continue supporting the war in his country.

A Washington Post-ABC News poll this week showed voters are deeply and evenly split over whether to send an additional 40,000 troops there, as the US commander, Gen. Stanley McChrystal, says is needed.

‘Nowadays, after these elections, I think both the leadership in Afghanistan and our friends and partners focused on how the new elections will bring more legitimacy to Afghanistan. So we are not against that debate,’ he said, referencing the runoff that will take place on November 7 between President Hamid Karzai and his main challenger, former Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah.

All three ambassadors said it is vital that the United States send more troops to Afghanistan to help win the fight against terrorism.

Puri, the Indian ambassador, said, ‘You cannot have a fight against international terrorism which is compartmentalized. The snakes that bite us wherever come from the same pit.’

He added: ‘You cannot do Faustian deals with terrorist groups, so I think you need a comprehensive international movement against the terrorists, and I hope that all of us who are involved in this will carry this fight through until the end so that all of us are victors in this.’ –APP

Turkish PM for joint struggle to stamp out terrorism

Updated at: 1720 PST, Monday, October 26, 2009

ISLAMABAD: Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan Monday stressed the need for putting up a joint struggle against the scourge of terrorism and extremism.

Delivering a historic address to the joint session of Pakistani Parliament, the Turkish PM said Turkey understands the challenges and problems being faced by the people of Pakistan. “Turkey stands with Pakistan in the war against terror,” the Turkish PM said.

The Turkish PM’s speech at the joint session of the Parliament is a first ever address made by any foreign diplomat.

Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani, senior military officials including Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee and members of parliament attended today’s session.

The first lady of Turkey was also present along with the Turkish diplomats.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto was not only the great leader of Pakistan but also of the entire world. When Ms Bhutto was assassinated on December 27, 2007, the members of Turkish parliament representing all the political parties of the country expressed grief, he added.

He described the relations shared between Pakistan and Turkey as extraordinary.

“Pakistan holds a special place in the hearts of Turkish people right from the day the former became independent 62 years ago,” the Turkish PM said, adding “the Turkish people still remember the freedom movement spearheaded by Jauhar brothers.”

Terror, terror everywhere

Posted by Asif Akhtar in Pakistan, Politics on 10 23rd, 2009

The coordinated attacks on security infrastructure which went on for a week gave Pakistan a real taste of an insurgent backlash to violent conflict. Over the weekend, amidst security threats to educational institutions, ranging from schools to universities, the media speculated over whether these would close down in order to avoid an ugly hostage situation. There seemed to be some confusion on Monday morning, with headlines claiming that all private schools would remain open in Lahore, ‘including those in cantonment and DHA.’ But by night time, the government had done a 180, announcing that in fact schools across the country would remain closed for the entire week. Though I’m sure no student would complain about a week-long vacation, these mild, curfew-like restrictions suggest that this is the point when the country’s internal conflict gets a little too close for comfort to everyday life, instead of just being something you watch on the television screen.

It was City 42, a news channel, that reported that LUMS (yes, I dare mention LUMS, after all that) would shut down after the blasts at IIU in Islamabad, making the administration’s still-pending decision a self-fulfilling prophecy after students assumed the news to be true. LUMS students were upbeat however, knowing that they had no readings, quizzes, or assignments due. ‘They [the students] don’t care about theses security issues,’ says Haider Fancy, a senior at LUMS. ‘They just want to get the next week off, and not have to go to class, that’s all they care about.’ But not everyone can be so detached.  ‘These freshmen are crazy,’ exclaims a slightly more concerned senior, ‘with all this security mess, they’re out on campus celebrating.’

The warden at the female hostel of Beaconhouse National University seemed to be way ahead of the game than the wobbly policies of the LUMS administration. Students living at the hostel claim that the warden had been calling parents up and ‘freaking them out,’ in a sort of polite way to inform concerned parents that ‘they’ were responsible for their daughters’ safety, and not the entrusted hostel administration. As early as last weekend, many hostel residing students got concerned calls from parents all over Pakistan, worried for their children’s safety. Indeed, it seems this sensational propaganda laden ‘war of terror’ has gotten to our nerves.

LUMS students received a security update on their lively email server, warning students that terrorists ‘could take control of their cars’ and use them to execute attacks. If that doesn’t get you a little edgy, the government has been investigating text messages claiming that terrorists might be able to hack into an unsuspected caller’s phone so that when he presses a key to dial a number he detonates a bomb which could bring down a building. (On a side note, wouldn’t everyone agree that the scene would make a great ad for a cell phone provider? The voiceover could say, ‘Now introducing new explosive pre-paid packages, which might put your security, and the security of others around you at risk’ over the backdrop of a three-way split-screen conversation between a man, his wife, and… a terrorist!)

So  with all this news of evil, scheming terrorists taking control of strange foreign objects through these ‘Jedi mind-tricks’ which they seem to have mastered in the past few months, I’m afraid of using the lota in my bathroom because it just might be used to launch an attack on some unsuspecting target. Oh what shall we do? Now as a nation we’ll have to conform to the toilet-paper scraping ways of the West. Oh will the Lord finally intervene? read more…….

Courtsey : Dawn, AFP, AP. 

Pakistan Friday Terror Digest……….1.

Anti-tank mine kills 15 in Mohmand: officials

Anti-tank mine kills 15 in Mohmand,6 others were also wounded when a vehicle carrying passengers to a wedding hit an anti-tank mine.

Friday, 23 Oct, 2009

PESHAWAR: An anti-tank mine exploded Friday under a minibus, killing 15 wedding guests on a road used by government forces in Pakistan’s tribal belt on the Afghan border, officials said.

  

The incident took place at Baizai Tehsil in the Sorandara area of Mohmand, where security forces have been pressing an offensive against rebels in what is part of Pakistan’s tribal belt, where al Qaeda-linked militants are holed up.

 

‘A vehicle carrying passengers to a wedding hit an anti-tank mine, killing 15 people and wounding six others,’ a senior local administration official, Maqsood Khan, told AFP.

 

Another senior administration official, Rasool Khan, confirmed the incident and number of casualties. Most of the dead were women and children, he said. The bodies of those killed and the injured have been shifted to the Ghananai Hospital.

 

The same road is used extensively by Pakistan’s paramilitary Frontier Corps (FC), which demolished several houses of suspected militants in the Sorandara area during raids Thursday.

 

Security forces launched a huge operation against militants in Mohmand and Bajaur last August. In February, they said Bajaur had been cleared after months of fierce fighting, but unrest has rumbled on.

Blast near aeronautical complex in Attock kills seven

Security forces survey the site of a suicide bomb attack at the entrance of the Pakistan Aeronautical Complex in Kamra, about 75 km northwest of Islamabad, October 23, 2009. — Reuters

Friday, 23 Oct, 2009||updated at 2.30 PST

ISLAMABAD: A suicide bomber struck near a major air force complex in northwestern Pakistan Friday, killing seven people as the army pressed ahead with a major anti-Taliban in close to the Afghan border.

The attack happened outside the Pakistan Aeronautical Complex (PAC) in Kamra Cantt, DawnNews reported.

‘There was a suicide attack and at least seven people have been killed,’ said district police officer, Fakhar Sultan.

‘Two Pakistan Air Force personnel are among those killed in the attack,’ he told AFP.

The attack was the latest in a wave of bombings and raids sweeping Pakistan targeting mostly security-related institutions that has killed more than 150 people.

The Pakistan Aeronautical Complex at Kamra is the country’s major air force maintenance and research hub.

Some foreign military experts have mentioned it as a possible place to keep planes that can carry nuclear warheads.

The army, which does not reveal where its nuclear- related facilities are, has denied that the facility is tied to the program in any way.

A lone suicide bomber on a bicycle blew himself at a check point on a road leading to the complex, around 30 miles from Islamabad.

Police officer Akbar Abbas blamed the Taliban for the attack. The seven dead included two security troops, while 13 people were wounded.

The complex at Kamra or its workers have been targeted at least once before. In December 2007, a suicide car bomber struck near a bus carrying children of Pakistan Air Force employees, wounding five of them.

15 hurt in Peshawar car bomb blast

Rescuers help an injured man at a bomb blast site in Peshawar on October 23, 2009. — AFP

Updated at: 1400 PST, Friday, October 23, 2009

PESHAWAR: Fifteen people sustained injuries in a remote control car bomb blast happened in Peshawar’s posh locality of Hyatabad.

Sources said the explosion occurred in a car parked outside a restaurant in Phase 2 of Hyatabad. Gunshots were also heard after the blast. Police officials and rescue workers reached at the blast site and shifted wounded persons to Hyatabad Medical Complex. Police have cordoned off the area. Law enforcement agencies have arrested a suspected man and shifted him at undisclosed location for interrogations.

The sources of Bomb Disposal Squad said the blast carried out through remote control device in which 40 kilograms of explosive was used.

Fierce fighting in Waziristan; toll passes 160

The military said it secured the ridge of Shishamwan behind Kotkai, after an ‘intense engagement’ allowing troops to besiege Kotkai from the east. — File photo

Friday, 23 Oct, 2009|| updated 1300 PST

  ISLAMABAD: The military said Friday that the death toll in a major military assault on the Taliban in Waziristan rose to more than 160 on the seventh day of intense fighting in the region.

Thirteen militants, including six Uzbeks, have died since the last death toll, bringing the overall number of insurgents killed to 142, a statement said.

In addition, two soldiers have been killed in the offensive around South Waziristan, where authorities say scores of al-Qaeda and Taliban-linked attacks have been masterminded, bringing the overall number of dead soldiers to 20.

Death tolls are impossible to confirm independently with the area closed and all communication lines down.  Read More………

Security forces kill 19 militants in Kyber, Mohmand, Dir

Updated at: 2045 PST, Friday, October 23, 2009

PESHAWAR: Security forces have killed 19 militants and arrested 41 suspected terrorists in Khyber Agency, Mohmand, and Lower Dir.

In an operation security forces killed 4 terrorists and destroyed 4 vehicles at Gorgari in Kyber Agency, FC media cell reported.

Meanwhile, 25 suspected terrorists were detained during a search operation in Shalobar, Tehsil Bara.

Security forces also conducted operation in Mohmand Agency, killing 15 insurgents and injuring 14 at Kozchanari, Ghanamshah and Ziarat.

Two shops and ten terrorist hideouts were also ruined in the operation, while 14 terrorists have been caught at Lal Qila and Mira Mai, in Dir district.

Courtsey:  Dawn, The News, AFP, AP.