Pakistan clashes kill 15: officials

Mon Dec 28, 2009, 4:26 am ET

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AFP) –

Gun battles between Taliban and a tribal militia killed 15 people on Monday in Pakistan's tribal belt on the border with Afghanistan, security officials said.

The clashes broke out when Taliban fighters attacked homes and trenches dug by the anti-Taliban militia in the Stoorikhel area of Orakzai district, 200 kilometres (125 miles) from northwestern city Peshawar, officials said.

Security officials said the Taliban destroyed several houses and killed nine men from a rival militia, which was set up to challenge the Taliban fighters who hold sway in parts of Orakzai.

"They also killed local tribal elder Malik Sharif and took over his house," one official said.

"We have reports that nine militia men and six militants have been killed. The fighting is still going on," a security official based in the neighbouring garrison city of Kohat told AFP by telephone.

"There are casualties on both sides. Gun battles are continuing. Both sides are using heavy weapons," said an intelligence official in the town of Hangu.

Hakimullah Mehsud, who heads the umbrella Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, comes from Orakzai and many Taliban fighters are believed to have fled to the area to escape an offensive against the group's stronghold in South Waziristan.

Pakistan has encouraged locals to organise lashkars, or tribal militias, against Taliban fighters in parts of the northwest, where the country's traditional army with equipment shortages has found it difficult to eradicate insurgents.

Regular soldiers have launched numerous offensives in the tribal belt, but Washington is increasing pressure on Islamabad to do more against Al-Qaeda and stop insurgents crossing the border to attack Western troops in Afghanistan.

Pakistan bombing kills 25 at Shi'i procession

By ASHRAF KHAN Associated Press Writer

Dec 28, 2009, 9:05 AM EST

KARACHI, Pakistan (AP) --

A suicide bombing targeting a Shi'i Muslim procession in Pakistan's largest city of Karachi killed 25 people and wounded dozens more Monday, as Shi'i Muslims across the country marked the key holy day of Ashoura.

(Apparently, perpetrators aim at distracting the Pakistani people to a fake Shi'i-Sunni civil war, ccun.org Editor).

Violence broke out in the aftermath of the bombing, with shots fired into the air and outraged Shiites hurling stones at security forces who had been guarding the march for their failure to prevent it.

Karachi has largely been spared the Taliban-linked violence that has struck much of the rest of the country. But the city has been the scene of frequent sectarian, ethnic and political violence.

After Monday's blast, protesters set fire to a market, two other buildings and several vehicles, smashing shops as others at the procession attempted to stop them. Police and paramilitary troops fired into the air to disperse the crowd.

Television footage showed police cars and ambulances damaged, with windows smashed and doors and hoods ripped open.

Karachi Mayor Mustafa Kamal appealed for calm.

"I want to appeal to the people, to my brothers, my elders to stay calm. I am hearing people are clashing with police and doctors. Please do not do that. That is what terrorists are aiming at. They want to see this city again on fire," he said.

At the nearby Civil Hospital, relatives cried and beat their chests as the wounded lay on stretchers and beds.

"So far, according to information, more than 25 people have been (killed) and more than 50 are wounded," Interior Minister Rehman Malik said.

The minister said the attack was carried out by a suicide bomber who detonated his explosives at the start of the procession.

"These are people who are against the democracy, against our religion, against our Pakistan," he said.

Bomb disposal squad official Munir Sheikh said some 35 pounds (16 kilograms ) of high explosive were used in the bombing.

Security has been tightened across Pakistan for Ashoura, which is the 10th day of the holy month of Muharram, a month of mourning, commemorating the seventh-century death of the Prophet Muhammad's grandson. Some parts of the Muslim world celebrated Ashoura on Sunday.

Malik, the Interior Minister, said he had appealed to the Shi'i community to cancel processions for the next two days.

"That does not mean that we are trying to interfere in their religious affairs, but we are doing it for the sake of security and to save precious lives," he said.

Live television footage of the procession showed the blast and smoke billowing from the scene. Ambulances rushed to and from the area.

"I fell down when bomb went off with a big bang. My mind stopped working," said Naseem Raza, a 26-year-old who had been in the procession. "Sometime later, I stood up. People were running. I saw walls stained with blood and splashed with human flesh. I saw bloodstained people lying here and there."

Karachi lawmaker Farooq Sattar condemned the attack as "purely an act of terrorism. It is an attempt to destroy peace of this commercial hub. It is a work of the enemies of Pakistan."

Monday's suicide bombing was the third explosion in as many days to hit Karachi, although authorities attributed a blast which wounded 30 on Sunday to a buildup of gas in a sewage pipe.

Protests broke out after that blast too, with Shi'is torching at least three vehicles.

On Saturday, another blast near a Shi'i procession wounded 19 people. Authorities attributed that explosion to a firecracker. Abdul Rauf, an official with the bomb disposal squad in Karachi, said the firecracker blast had left a crater in the road.

Monday's attack came after a suicide bomber struck a Shi'i procession Sunday in Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistan-controlled Kashmir, killing eight people and wounding another 80. That bombing was a rare sectarian attack in an area police say has little history of militant violence. The dead included three police officers, said police official Yasin Baig, adding that another 10 police were among the wounded.

He said it was the first time a suicide bomber attacked a Shi'i gathering in the region.

Muslim fighters have fought for decades to free Kashmir, which is split between India and Pakistan and claimed by both, from New Delhi's rule. But while Pakistani Kashmir has served as a base for anti-India insurgents to train and launch attacks, the region has largely been spared violence, with militants focusing on the Indian-controlled portion.

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Associated Press writer Asif Shahzad in Islamabad contributed to this report.