Suicide bomber kills 11 in Swat reprisal attack
Source: Agencies |
March 14, 2010, Sunday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
A SUICIDE bomber targeting security forces in Pakistan's Swat Valley yesterday killed at least 11 people, police said, in part of a renewed Taliban push against the government after a major crackdown against the group.
The assault near a security check post, which also wounded 35 people, came a day after a suicide attack on the military killed at least 45 people in the city of Lahore.
"The bomber was in a rickshaw," said Qazi Ghulam Farooq, Mingora city police chief. The attack killed two soldiers, three policemen and five civilians, police said.
"When I got there, I saw a burning vehicle. At least five people, including some women, who burned to death," a witness said.
The road leading to Mingora's main courthouse was blocked by concrete blocks, sand bags and barbed wire. The blast left two rickshaws twisted and a car burning. Windows in nearby buildings were shattered.
Militants have gone on the offensive again after a relative lull in violence, challenging government assertions that an offensive in the militant stronghold of South Waziristan had dealt a major blow to the al-Qaida-backed Pakistani Taliban.
Underscoring the alarm in Pakistan, one front-page newspaper headline read: "Lahore Under Terror Siege."
The latest wave of violence is likely to worry the United States in several ways. For one, it will raise fresh questions about stability in Pakistan.
And Washington may be concerned attacks will force Pakistan to further focus on fighting homegrown Taliban, instead of hunting Afghan militants who cross the border to attack US troops in Afghanistan, the White House's main priority as it tries to stabilize the country ahead of the start of a US troop pullout in 2011.
The blast in Mingora, Swat's main town, was the sixth this week, and will add pressure on President Asif Ali Zardari during a critical period. The economy is sluggish and foreign investors have been scared away.
The assault near a security check post, which also wounded 35 people, came a day after a suicide attack on the military killed at least 45 people in the city of Lahore.
"The bomber was in a rickshaw," said Qazi Ghulam Farooq, Mingora city police chief. The attack killed two soldiers, three policemen and five civilians, police said.
"When I got there, I saw a burning vehicle. At least five people, including some women, who burned to death," a witness said.
The road leading to Mingora's main courthouse was blocked by concrete blocks, sand bags and barbed wire. The blast left two rickshaws twisted and a car burning. Windows in nearby buildings were shattered.
Militants have gone on the offensive again after a relative lull in violence, challenging government assertions that an offensive in the militant stronghold of South Waziristan had dealt a major blow to the al-Qaida-backed Pakistani Taliban.
Underscoring the alarm in Pakistan, one front-page newspaper headline read: "Lahore Under Terror Siege."
The latest wave of violence is likely to worry the United States in several ways. For one, it will raise fresh questions about stability in Pakistan.
And Washington may be concerned attacks will force Pakistan to further focus on fighting homegrown Taliban, instead of hunting Afghan militants who cross the border to attack US troops in Afghanistan, the White House's main priority as it tries to stabilize the country ahead of the start of a US troop pullout in 2011.
The blast in Mingora, Swat's main town, was the sixth this week, and will add pressure on President Asif Ali Zardari during a critical period. The economy is sluggish and foreign investors have been scared away.
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