Twelve die and hotel razed as Pakistan timebomb explodes
Source: Agencies |
August 15, 2011, Monday
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A TIMEBOMB exploded in a two-story hotel in Pakistan's southwestern Baluchistan province yesterday, killing 12 people and reducing the building to rubble, according to police.
The blast, in Dera Allah Yar, 350 kilometers east of the provincial capital of Quetta, also injured 23 people, said Jawed Iqbal Gharshin, police chief of Jafferabad district, adding that police have detained two people who had tea in the hotel restaurant and left just before the bomb exploded.
No group has claimed responsibility for the attack, but Baluchistan has experienced a decades-long insurgency by nationalists who want a greater share of the region's natural resources. The province, next to Afghanistan, is also believed to be home to many Taliban militants.
Elsewhere in Baluchistan, two gunmen on a motorcycle killed a local journalist in the city of Khuzdar, 270km from Quetta. Munir Shakir was walking to his office in the main bazaar when he was attacked, said area police chief Qadir Shaikh
In addition, rockets were fired at a paramilitary base in northwestern Pakistan during an independence day ceremony, killing three soldiers and wounding 23 others, intelligence officials said.
The troops had just finished raising the Pakistani flag and were gathering for speeches when the rockets hit the base in Miran Shah, the main town in the North Waziristan tribal area, according to officials.
North Waziristan is the main sanctuary for Taliban and al-Qaida fighters in Pakistan's semiautonomous tribal region along the Afghan border. Militants often launch attacks against foreign troops in Afghanistan.
The US has repeatedly demanded that Pakistan launch an offensive against militants in North Waziristan, but the government has refused, saying its forces are stretched too thin by operations in other parts of the tribal area.
Many analysts believe Pakistan is reluctant to target Afghan Taliban militants with whom it has historic ties and who could be useful allies in Afghanistan after foreign troops withdraw.
No group has claimed responsibility for the attack, but the area is filled with Pakistani Taliban militants who have declared war on the state. In contrast, the Afghan Taliban have concentrated on fighting in Afghanistan.
Elsewhere in the northwest, a landmine killed two paramilitary soldiers and wounded five others on patrol in the Orakzai tribal area, according to Naeem Khan, a local government official.
The blast, in Dera Allah Yar, 350 kilometers east of the provincial capital of Quetta, also injured 23 people, said Jawed Iqbal Gharshin, police chief of Jafferabad district, adding that police have detained two people who had tea in the hotel restaurant and left just before the bomb exploded.
No group has claimed responsibility for the attack, but Baluchistan has experienced a decades-long insurgency by nationalists who want a greater share of the region's natural resources. The province, next to Afghanistan, is also believed to be home to many Taliban militants.
Elsewhere in Baluchistan, two gunmen on a motorcycle killed a local journalist in the city of Khuzdar, 270km from Quetta. Munir Shakir was walking to his office in the main bazaar when he was attacked, said area police chief Qadir Shaikh
In addition, rockets were fired at a paramilitary base in northwestern Pakistan during an independence day ceremony, killing three soldiers and wounding 23 others, intelligence officials said.
The troops had just finished raising the Pakistani flag and were gathering for speeches when the rockets hit the base in Miran Shah, the main town in the North Waziristan tribal area, according to officials.
North Waziristan is the main sanctuary for Taliban and al-Qaida fighters in Pakistan's semiautonomous tribal region along the Afghan border. Militants often launch attacks against foreign troops in Afghanistan.
The US has repeatedly demanded that Pakistan launch an offensive against militants in North Waziristan, but the government has refused, saying its forces are stretched too thin by operations in other parts of the tribal area.
Many analysts believe Pakistan is reluctant to target Afghan Taliban militants with whom it has historic ties and who could be useful allies in Afghanistan after foreign troops withdraw.
No group has claimed responsibility for the attack, but the area is filled with Pakistani Taliban militants who have declared war on the state. In contrast, the Afghan Taliban have concentrated on fighting in Afghanistan.
Elsewhere in the northwest, a landmine killed two paramilitary soldiers and wounded five others on patrol in the Orakzai tribal area, according to Naeem Khan, a local government official.
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