70 Pakistanis Killed in Attacks on Police Headquarters and Army Convoy

AP Headline: Truce Over, Pakistan Militants Kill 70

By RIAZ KHAN Associated Press Writer

Jul 15, 2007, 1:43 PM EDT

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) --

Fighters in northwest Pakistan disavowed a peace pact with the government and launched two days of suicide attacks and bombings that killed at least 70 people, dramatically escalating the violence in the northwestern region.

The attacks Sunday and Saturday followed strident calls to avenge the government's bloody storming of Islamabad's Red Mosque and a declaration of jihad, or holy war.

Termination of the peace treaty, the hopeful handiwork of President Gen. Pervez Musharraf, puts even greater pressure on the military leader as he struggles with both (fighters in the region) and a gathering pro-democracy movement.

There is concern in Pakistan that the gathering sense of crisis could prompt Musharraf to cancel elections later this year and declare a state of emergency - despite his repeated denials.

The U.S. national security adviser, Stephen Hadley, expressed concern Sunday about the threat from militants in Pakistan, but supported Musharraf's recent responses.

"He has a safe haven problem in an area of his country where Pakistan's central government has really not been present for decades or even generations. It is a problem for him," Hadley told CNN's "Late Edition."

But in a separate interview on Fox News Sunday, Hadley acknowledged that the United States was dissatisfied with Musharraf's policies.

"The action has at this point not been adequate, not effective," Hadley said. "He's doing more. We are urging him to do more, and we're providing our full support to what he's contemplating."

Abdullah Farhad, a militant spokesman, said the 10-month-old cease-fire was being terminated in North Waziristan, a remote area on the Afghan border where the U.S. worries that al-Qaida has regrouped.

He said (local) leaders made the decision after the government failed to abide by their demand to withdraw troops from checkpoints by Sunday afternoon. He also accused authorities of launching attacks and failing to compensate those harmed.

"The peace agreement has ended," Farhad told reporters in Peshawar, the capital of North West Frontier Province.

The government deployed thousands of troops to restive areas of the province in recent days in hopes of stemming a backlash to the storming of the radical Red Mosque.

But they failed to protect themselves Sunday against suicide attacks and a roadside bomb which together killed 44 people and wounded more than 100.

Two suicide bombers and a roadside bomb struck a military convoy in Swat, a mountainous area northeast of Peshawar, killing 18 people and wounding 47, a government official said, citing an official report being sent to Islamabad.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak with the media, said two explosive-laden vans driven rammed the convoy near the town of Matta. He said seven civilians also died.

Bodies and the wounded were pulled from the shattered military vehicles. Helmets, an engine, and pieces of twisted metal were strewn over a wide area, some of it stained with blood.

Television footage showed about half a dozen roadside houses also destroyed by the blasts. People dug four corpses out of the rubble, among them a young girl.

In the day's second attack, a suicide bomber targeted scores of people taking medical and written exams for recruitment to the police force in the city of Dera Ismail Khan. The blast killed 26 people and wounded 35, said police officer Habibur Rahman.

More than 150 people were on the grounds of the police headquarters when the bomber struck. Police said the bomber's head and suicide vest were found.

On Saturday, at least 26 soldiers were killed and 54 wounded in a suicide car bombing north of Miran Shah, North Waziristan's main town, the army said.

Interior Minister Aftab Sherpao said the government was investigating whether the attacks were related to the Red Mosque operation.

Speaking on Pakistan's Geo television, he said militants had violated the Waziristan deal by attacking government targets. Authorities would hold tribal leaders responsible, he said.

Tensions are high in Pakistan after the mosque raid, which ended an eight-day siege with a hard-line cleric and his militant supporters. More than 100 died during the standoff.

A document announcing the end of the peace pact in North Waziristan was passed around in the bazaar in Miran Shah.

Under the Sept. 5, 2006, truce, the Pakistan army pulled back to barracks tens of thousands of troops that had been involved in bloody operations against suspected Taliban and al-Qaida hideouts, and militants agreed to halt attacks in Pakistan and over the border against foreign troops in Afghanistan. Tribal elders were supposed to police the deal.

Musharraf had clung to the agreement and similar pacts in neighboring areas, arguing that, by empowering tribal leaders to police their own fiefdoms in return for development aid, they offered the only chance of bringing long-term stability.

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Associated Press writers Zarar Khan and Sadaqat Jan in Islamabad, Bashirullah Khan in Miran Shah and Ishtiaq Mahsun in Dera Ismail Khan contributed to this report.

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AP Headline: Militants kill 38 in northwest Pakistan

By RIAZ KHAN Associated Press Writer

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) --

Suicide attackers struck a police headquarters and a military convoy on Sunday in Pakistan's northwest, killing as many as 38 people in an intensifying anti-government campaign in an area long known as a haven for the Taliban and al-Qaida.

Fighters in the Afghan border region disavowed a 10-month old truce with the government that critics said gave them a safe haven from which to launch attacks on Afghan, U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan.

The government has deployed thousands of troops to the region to thwart calls for a holy war to revenge the bloody storming of Islamabad's Red Mosque last week, and the region's fighters are increasingly training their attacks on the soldiers - and apparently other government targets as well.

In Dera Ismail Khan, near South Waziristan, the bomber at the police headquarters struck as recruits were testing to join the force, said Gul Afzal Afridi, a police officer.

"It was a suicide bombing and the attacker mingled among the scores of people gathered for the test and physical examination," Afridi said.

More than 150 people were on the grounds when the bomber struck. The blast killed 20 people and wounded 35, said police officer Mohammed Aslam. He said the head of the suicide bomber and his suicide vest had been found.

Elsewhere, in a mountainous area of North West Frontier Province near the Afghan border, a convoy of army and paramilitary troops was attacked by suspected militants, Maj. Gen. Waheed Arshad said. An official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak with the press said 18 people were killed and 47 wounded; Arshad said 11 soldiers and three civilians had died.

"These were two suicide attacks in which two blue Suzuki vans were used as well as an (improvised explosive device) blast," said Arshad, who said 39 soldiers were wounded by the explosions.

On Saturday, a suicide bombing killed at least 24 soldiers and wounded 29 on a road near Daznaray, a village about 30 miles north of Miran Shah, the main town in the North Waziristan tribal region, Arshad said.

In Washington, Sen. John Warner, R-Va., a senior member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said the U.S. was concerned about the developments in Pakistan.

"Pakistan is faced with a very fragile political situation. Musharraf is up for reelection, and we all hope he will be reelected," he told "This Week" on ABC.

The document disavowing the 10-month old truce between militants and the government was distributed in the bazaar of Miran Shah, complained that government forces had attacked militants, failed to pay compensation created problems at check points.

"The peace agreement has ended," said a militant spokesman, Abdullah Farhad, confirming the document's authenticity.

Signed by the shura, or council, of North Waziristan, the document warned local militia and elders against cooperating with the government. The signatories referred to themselves as the Taliban, a term commonly used by some Pakistani militants in northwest Pakistan.

On Saturday, at least 24 soldiers were killed and 29 wounded on a road near Daznaray, about 30 miles north of Miran Shah, Arshad said.

The driver plowed his explosives-laden vehicle into the convoy in one of the most lethal suicide attacks in recent months. Although no one claimed responsibility, Arshad said he could not rule out the possibility that it was a reaction to the assault on the Red Mosque.

Tensions are high in Pakistan after the raid, which ended an eight-day siege with a cleric and his supporters. More than 100 died during the standoff.

The region along Pakistan's border with Afghanistan has seen increased activity by local fighters, the Taliban, and - according to a recent U.S. assessment - al-Qaida.

Arshad said reinforcements had been sent to the northwest to beef up some 90,000 troops already in the region. Officials say the fresh troops have moved into at least five areas.

In Islamabad, authorities Sunday detained Shah Abdul Aziz, a National Assembly member from an alliance of religious parties, for allegedly inciting people against the government during the Red Mosque siege.

He would be detained for 30 days, said Chaudhri Moohammed Ali, a senior Islamabad district official.

Aziz, who told a local television station that he had done nothing wrong, was among a delegation of ministers and religious scholars who attempted without success to peacefully resolve the standoff.

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Associated Press Writer Bashirullah Khan in Miran Shah contributed to this report.

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