Tank mine kills 15 in Pakistan

by S.H. Khan S.h. Khan –

October 23, 2009

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AFP) –

An anti-tank mine killed 15 wedding guests in Pakistan's tribal belt on Friday as a deadly bombing near an air force base inflicted a further reverse on the military in its war on the Taliban.

A car bomb also exploded outside a restaurant in the northwestern city of Peshawar, wounding 15 and underlining the threat to civilians in a nation where more than 190 people have died during Taliban-linked attacks in 19 days.

The explosion which ripped through the wedding party minibus went off in the Sorandara area of Mohmand where security forces have been pressing an offensive against Islamist rebels for more than a year.

Troops are waging a separate offensive in South Waziristan, another part of the tribal belt where Taliban and Al-Qaeda-linked militants are believed to have planned attacks both on Pakistan targets and on the West.

"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 road is used extensively by Pakistan's paramilitary Frontier Corps (FC), whose locally drawn personnel have dragged into fighting with the Taliban.

Pakistan's semi-autonomous northwest tribal belt has become a stronghold for hundreds of extremists who fled Afghanistan after the US-led invasion toppled the hardline Taliban regime in neighbouring Afghanistan in late 2001.

Security forces launched a huge operation against Islamist militants in Mohmand and Bajaur last August, but unrest has rumbled on.

The Islamists' ability to take the fight to the military's front door was illustrated when a bomber blew himself up during morning rush hour in the town of Kamra, near the Pakistan Aeronautical Complex. Eight people were killed.

District police chief Fakhar Sultan said the attack killed six civilians and two Pakistan Air Force personnel.

The Air Force said 15 security staff were wounded and confirmed two of its personnel died when the bomber blew himself up at the checkpoint outside the base, about 60 kilometres (38 miles) west of the capital Islamabad.

The explosion in Peshawar was a car bomb, detonated in the wealthy district of Hayatabad, officials said.

"Fifteen people were wounded in the explosion. Six sustained minor wounds while nine are still being treated. Two people are critical," said top local administration official Sahibzada Mohammad Anis.

Police said a vehicle outside the Evergreen complex, which is used as a wedding hall, restaurant and swimming pool, was destroyed.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility but a series of attacks blamed on Taliban and Al-Qaeda-linked extremists has left at least 193 dead this month in the frontline state in the US-led battle with global extremism.

The military has been a major target. On Thursday in Islamabad, gunmen killed a brigadier and his driver.

On October 10, militants ambushed the army headquarters in Rawalpindi in an audacious attack claimed by the Tehreek-e-Taliban in Pakistan (TTP) movement.

Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani condemned the latest attacks and vowed that the government would not waver in its resolve to "root out terrorism" with nearly 30,000 troops fighting against the TTP in South Waziristan. Related article: US Congress restrictions on Pakistan aid

The offensive presents Pakistan with its toughest fight to date against Islamist radicals accused of plotting attacks on the West and blamed for attacks that have killed 2,280 people in Pakistan in two years.

Officials say more than 160 people, at least 142 Taliban fighters and 20 soldiers, have been killed since the operation against an estimated 10,000 fighters began Saturday and more than 120,000 civilians have fled the war zone.

Backed by helicopter gunships and warplanes, troops have been locked in heavy fighting that underscores the difficulty of dislodging diehard Taliban from bastions such as Kotkai, the hometown of TTP chief Hakimullah Mehsud.

Washington has encouraged the offensive but US lawmakers passed a giant Pentagon spending bill Thursday that sets tough new restrictions on military aid to Pakistan, where army commanders are already fuming over previous limits.

Blasts at Pakistan air base, wedding bus kill 24

By Asif Shahzad, Associated Press Writer –

October 23, 2009

ISLAMABAD –

A suicide bomber killed seven people near a major air force complex in northwest Pakistan on Friday, while an explosion killed 17 on a bus heading to wedding elsewhere in the region, the latest in a surge of militant attacks this month.

The bloodshed has coincided with the run-up and first week of a major army offensive in a Taliban stronghold along the Afghan border. About 200 people have died as the insurgents have shown they can strike in a variety of ways and places in the nuclear-armed, U.S.-allied nation.

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

A suicide bomber on a bicycle blew himself up at a checkpoint on a road leading to the complex, about 30 miles (50 kilometers) from the capital, Islamabad. Police officer Akbar Abbas blamed the Taliban for the attack.

The seven dead included two troops. Some 13 people were wounded.

Hours later, a blast struck the bus, which was traveling in the Mohmand tribal region. Four women and three children were among the 17 killed, said Zabit Khan, a local government official, who said the exact cause of the blast was still not certain.

"It appears to be a remote-controlled bomb, and militants might have hit the bus mistakenly," Khan told The Associated Press.

Mohmand, like other parts of Pakistan's tribal belt, has been a magnet for Taliban militants. The military has carried out operations there in the past aimed at clearing out insurgents but trouble still flares.

Also Friday, a car bomb exploded in the parking lot of a recreational facility in Peshawar, the main city in the northwest. Fifteen people were wounded. The facility includes a restaurant, a swimming pool, a health club and a marriage hall.

"It is part of the violence we are seeing across Pakistan these days," said Mian Iftikhar Hussain, the region's information minister.

There have been at least nine major militant attacks this month, most against police or army targets.

Some have been explosions, while others have involved teams of gunmen staging raids. In one of the most brazen attacks, gunmen attacked the army headquarters close to the capital and held hostages inside the complex for 22 hours.

Pakistan is under intense pressure to eliminate Islamist militant groups sheltering in its northwest that also attack U.S. and NATO troops in Afghanistan. The military has battled them in various districts, losing hundreds of soldiers, but questions remain about its overall strategic commitment to the fight.

It began its current offensive in the South Waziristan tribal region seven days ago.

A military statement Friday reported two more soldiers were killed, bringing the army's death toll to 20, and that 13 more militants were slain, bringing their death toll to 142. Reporters are blocked from entering the region, meaning verifying information is all but impossible.

The army has previously moved into South Waziristan three times since 2004. Each time it has suffered high casualties and signed peace deals that left insurgents with effective control of the region. Western officials say al-Qaida now uses it and neighboring North Waziristan as an operations and training base.

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Associated Press writers Ashraf Khan in Islamabad, Riaz Khan in Peshawar, Habib Khan in Khar and Zarar Khan and Ishtiaq Mahsud in Dera Ismail Khan contributed to this report.