Pakistan's Descent into Chaos: Terrorist & Drone Attacks

Rage

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Cop killed in suicide attack on Special Branch office in Islamabad

By Fazal Sher
Tuesday, March 24, 2009


ISLAMABAD: A security official was killed and three others injured in a suicide bombing outside a police Special Branch office in Islamabad on Monday.

The attacker blew himself up when a constable stopped him from entering the office situated near Sitara Market in G7 at about 8pm, an official told Daily Times. Fasial Jan Khan was holding the attacker when he set the bomb off, he said.

The bombing destroyed the gate of the building and broke the windowpanes of nearby buildings. Contingents of rescuers and fire fighters arrived at the site and hospitals were put on alert. The injured were taken to the nearby Polyclinic Hospital.

Interior Adviser Rehman Malik said the attack was carried out by one of the suicide bombers who entered the capital just before the long march earlier this month.

“We had very authentic information that 15 to 20 Uzbeks suicide bombers were sent [to Islamabad] by Baitullah Mehsud following a meeting of Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP),” he told the media.

Officials said there was no protective fence or wall around the highly sensitive office and a witness said the attacker would have reached the building if the constable guarding the site had not kept hold of him.

“I salute this brave policeman for showing such an act of gallantry,” Rehman Malik said.

Asked why there had been no security mechanism in place despite reports of imminent suicide attacks, the adviser said law enforcement agencies had been put on high alert but “no mechanism has so far been developed anywhere in the world to preempt suicide bombing”.

Malik said he had formed a team to probe the incident.


http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2009\03\24\story_24-3-2009_pg1_10
 

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Deadly 'drone attack' in Pakistan

Pakistani intelligence officials say four people have been killed after a suspected US drone aircraft fired two missiles into a house in the North Waziristan region on the Afghan border.

The incident occurred early on Thursday outside the town of Mir Ali, they said.

"Two missiles fired from a suspected US drone hit the compound of a local pro-militant tribal elder Malik Gulab Khan, killing four residents," a local security official told the news agency AFP.

The strike was the second in the area in two days. A missile believed to have been launched by an unmanned US drone killed at least seven fighters in South Waziristan on Wednesday, intelligence officials and Taliban sources said.

The US military does not confirm drone attacks but its forces and the Central Intelligence Agency operating in Afghanistan are the only forces that deploy drones in the region.

Reports from Pakistani officials, residents and fighters say around 30 attacks have killed more than 300 people since August 2008.

The US says the attacks target suspected Taliban fighters in the area, and accuses Pakistan of not doing enough to crack down on fighters who cross the border to attack US and Nato troops in Afghanistan.

The Pakistani government has protested to Washington that drone strikes violate its territorial sovereignty, saying that the attacks are counterproductive as the civilian casualties they often inflict have boosted support for fighters in the area.

Hundreds of Taliban and al-Qaeda fighters sought refuge in Pakistan's northwest tribal region after the US-led invasion of Afghanistan toppled the Taliban regime in late 2001.
 

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Suicide Bomber Kills 11 in Northwest Pakistan

DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan -- A suicide bomber struck a restaurant in volatile northwest Pakistan on Thursday, killing at least 11 people including militants opposed to the country's top Taliban commander, intelligence officials said.

Pockets of northwest Pakistan are strongholds for Taliban, al-Qaida and other militant groups, not all of whom get along.

Even as Pakistan has battled the extremists and the U.S. has carried out dozens of missile attacks against the militants, including a suspected American strike that killed eight Wednesday, the armed groups have also attacked one another.

The attack Thursday morning occurred just outside the South Waziristan tribal region near the town of Tank at a roadside restaurant where some two dozen militants loyal to Turkistan Bittani were eating, two intelligence officials told The Associated Press.

Several other people were wounded in the attack, said the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to the speak publicly to the media.

Mr. Bittani was not present. South Waziristan is the stronghold of Baitullah Mehsud, a Bittani rival.

The tribal region also was the target of Wednesday's alleged U.S. missile strike, whose death toll included several foreigners, according to two other intelligence officials said. Wednesday's strike damaged two vehicles near Makeen, a town that borders Afghanistan.

The strike came as President Barack Obama's administration prepares to unveil a new strategy to quell Islamist insurgents threatening Pakistan and neighboring Afghanistan.

American officials have indicated that attacks along Pakistan's un-policed western frontier, apparently carried out by unmanned CIA aircraft and stepped up since last year, will continue despite protests from the Pakistani government.

The officials discussed the missile strike on condition of anonymity because they also were not authorized to speak to the media. Reporters cannot verify reports from the area because authorities and militants limit access.

U.S. officials say the strikes have killed a string of militant leaders and put al-Qaida on the defensive in an area considered a possible hiding place for its fugitive leaders, Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahri.

However, the Pakistani government argues that the tactic is counterproductive because it kills civilians, stokes anti-American feeling in the Islamic world's only nuclear-armed country and undermines its own efforts to isolate extremists.
 

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Suspected US strike kills 12 in Pakistan

13 mins ago

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AFP) – A suspected US missile strike hit a suspected Taliban and Al-Qaeda training centre in northwest Pakistan on Wednesday, killing 12 militants, security officials said.

Two missiles struck the suspected Taliban and Al-Qaeda den, 25 kilometres (16 miles) northeast of Hangu in the semi-autonomous Orakzai tribal region, an extremist stronghold in northwest Pakistan, a security official said.

"Twelve militants were killed in two missile attacks... on a training centre run by Taliban and Al-Qaeda militants," said the official on condition of anonymity.

"Some foreigners are believed to be among those killed," the official added, adopting a term used to refer to Al-Qaeda.

Another security official confirmed that 12 militants were killed.
 

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Militants take over emerald mine in north-western Pakistan


Islamabad - Taliban militants have taken control of an emerald mine in Pakistan's troubled North-West Frontier Province and started extraction, a news report said Thursday.

More than 70 militants raided the Gojaro Kalai mine in the Shangla district Wednesday, forcing the private guards deployed there to abandon their positions, the Daily Times newspaper reported.

The US firm Luxury International had leased the mine from Pakistan's government, but it suspended operations there in the wake of the deteriorating security situation in the region.

After taking over the mine, the rebels asked locals to resume work and share the profits with them.

Sher Bacha, mayor of the area, told the Daily Times that more than 1,000 people worked at the mine on Wednesday whereas the US firm had employed 100 miners.

Shangla lies next to the Swat district, where militants loyal to local radical cleric Maulana Fazullah have waged an armed campaign since mid-2007 to enforce Taliban-style laws.

The government recently signed a peace deal with the hardliners in the region, but the truce failed to completely end the violence and instead strengthened the militants' control.
 

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UN chief Osama declares Pak as ‘world heritage country’

Pakistan has been declared the first-ever "World Heritage Country" to mark April Fools' Day.

“On 31st March, the United Nation has selected Pakistan as the world's first World Heritage Nation. In a glowing ceremony held at UN Head Quarter in New York, the UNO chief Osama Bin Laden has conferred this award to Pakistan,” reads a fictional news story on thespoof.com.

Pakistan has been a favourite target of spoof writers with about a dozen pages dedicated to the country. The latest spoof is a take on UNESCO's declaration of world heritage sites to protect and preserve them.

“In a short message on its website, UNO has stated that Pakistan is the birthplace of all jihadi movements taking place in different parts of the world. Also, he mentioned that Pakistan is the only country which gives highest civilian award to terrorists,” reads the story by “lostinrandomworld”.

“However, many countries have opposed this move of United Nations. These countries have contended that they should have looked at some other countries too, for example Iran, North Korea, and probably Libya.”

Spoof stories have been put out on almost all the goings-on in Pakistan. In a related story, Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani was purportedly quoted as saying that the country is not a failed state.

“You people are giving us 'F' for failed, which is totally unfair when we believe we are actually 'D minus' and I am the true ruler of our 'D minus' nation of which we are all very proud,” Gilani was quoted as saying in a spoof story.

In Pakistan’s “weekly progress report to the world”, the story said, “Not only are we not a failed state we are a past state and as a past state we are on full life-support and the US is still not pulling our plug”.

“…all our vital functions are now somewhat functioning and so long as the world gives us highly-sophisticated weaponry, trillions of dollars and a blank cheque Pakistan could continue with its charade of being an ally on the war on terror,” the story read.

So far the best this year.
How about watching Katrina Kaif on 'Playboy' centrespread that was featured on msnindia's Bollywood quad. The comments received were pleasantly surprising!

But one got to know that people hardly had any energy to play pranks during these recession days.

On April 1 when everybody All Fool's Day is only day without holiday and the origin of Fools' Day is not known.

According to some people, the fun-loving day can be traced back to Roman mythology, particularly the story of Ceres, Goddess of the harvest, and her daughter, Proserpina.

However, the most widespread theory of the origin of the day is the switch from the old Julian to the Gregorian calendar in the late 16th century. Under the Julian calendar, the New Year was celebrated during the week between March 25 and April 1, but under the Gregorian calendar, it was moved to Jan. 1.

In Scotland, the butts of April Fool's jokes were known as April "Gowks," another name for a cuckoo bird.



Here are a few of of the top April Fool's hoaxes featured across the media:

In 1957 the BBC's Panorama news programme announced that due to a very mild winter and the virtual elimination of the spaghetti weevil, Swiss farmers were enjoying a bumper spaghetti crop. It accompanied this announcement with footage of Swiss peasants pulling strands of spaghetti down from trees. Huge numbers of viewers were taken in and many called the BBC asking how they could grow their own spaghetti tree.

The BBC had reported in 1980 reported that Big Ben was to be given a digital readout, in order to keep up with the times. The announcement received a huge response from listeners shocked and angered by the proposed change.

Richard Branson, Virgin chief in 1989, landed a hot-air balloon on the outskirts of London, which had been made up to look like a flying saucer. Thousands of motorists reported seeing the supposed UFO causing police to rush to the scene only to discover that it was an elaborate hoax devised by the businessman to promote Virgin Records.

Burger King published a full-page advertisement in USA Today 1998 announcing the introduction of a "Left-Handed Whopper" specially designed for the 32 million left-handed Americans. According to the advertisement, the new Whopper included the same ingredients as the original Whopper, but that they were rotated 180 degrees for the benefit of their left-handed customers. It was reported that thousands of customers fell for the prank and began specifying left or right hand versions of the burger when visiting its restaurants.

Thousands of French citizens were outraged after The Parisien in 1986 reported that an agreement had been signed to dismantle the Eiffel Tower and have it reconstructed in the Euro Disney theme park.

Patrick Moore told Radio 2 listeners in 1976 that, at precisely 9.47am that day, an unusual alignment of the planets would lessen the Earth's gravitational pull, so that anyone who jumped in the air would feel a strange floating sensation. Hundreds phoned in to say they had experienced the phenomenon.

BMW continued, in 1994, its tradition of running hoax adverts on April Fool's by touting the latest advancement for its cars – pivoting convex lasers mounted in front of each wheel to melt ice and snow on the road.

Source: IS and agencies
http://news.in.msn.com/international/article.aspx?cp-documentid=2613862
 

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Militants destroy nine NATO vehicles in Pakistan

PESHAWAR - Suspected Taliban militants in Pakistan destroyed nine parked NATO force vehicles after attacking a terminal, officials said on Friday.

Rebels targeted the Port World Logistic terminal on the outskirts of the northwestern city of Peshawar with petrol bombs and rockets, the latest in a series of strikes against supplies for foreign forces across the border.

“There were no casualties in the attack early Friday, but the fire destroyed nine NATO vehicles, including firefighting vans and four-by-four jeeps,” local police official Fazal Wahid Khan told AFP.

He said militants traded fire with police until the attack was repulsed and rebels fled into the darkness.

Another police official Anwar Khan confirmed the assault and said nine vehicles had been destroyed, but added the number of militants was not known.

“We are also in the process of assessing the damage (from) the fire that broke out after militants threw hand grenades and fired rockets on the terminal,” he said.

The bulk of supplies and equipment required by NATO and US-led forces battling a Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan are shipped through Pakistan. The fabled Khyber pass through the northwest is the principal land route.

US officials say northwest Pakistan has degenerated into a safe haven for Al-Qaeda and Taliban militants who fled the 2001 US-led invasion of Afghanistan and have regrouped to launch attacks on foreign troops across the border.

Extremists opposed to the Pakistani government’s decision to side with the United States in its “war on terror” have carried out a series of bombings and other attacks that have killed nearly 1,700 people in less than two years.
 

Rage

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Gentlemen, gentlemen. Again, I request that nothing but terrorist attacks be posted in this thread. News about the take-over of emerald mines in Swat can be posted here: Taliban take over Emerald mines in Sawat. And I request that miscellaneous articles, anlayses, etc that do not involve reporting acts of terror be posted in the general forum or in this subsection (not in this thread).

I want this thread to act as an easily accessible compendium to serve as a future reference point for acts of terror in Pakistan.

I would also request if possible, mods to shift posts re: drone strikes in Pakistan to a new thread created for the purpose.

Once again, thank you for your cooperation in this regard.
 

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Video of Taliban Flogging Rattles Pakistan

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — The video shows a young girl held face down as a Taliban commander whips her repeatedly with a leather strap. “Leave me for the moment — you can beat me again later,” she screams, pleading for a reprieve and writhing in pain.

The Lede: Women Erased, Flogged and Restricted (April 3, 2009) Paying no heed, the commander orders the others to tighten their grip on her and continues the public flogging. A large group of men quietly stands and watches in a circle around her.

The girl in the video is a 17-year-old resident of Kabal in the restive Swat region in northwestern Pakistan. The images, which have been aired repeatedly by private television news networks in Pakistan, have caused outrage here and set off bitter condemnation by rights activists and politicians. It has also raised questions once again about the government’s decision to enter into a peace deal in February that effectively ceded Swat to the Taliban and allowed them to impose Islamic law.

The two-minute video is the first known case of a public flogging of a woman in Swat. Apparently shot on mobile phone and widely circulated in the picturesque valley, it demonstrates vividly how the Taliban have used public displays of punishment to terrify and control the local population.

It was not clear what the girl was accused of. One account said that she had stepped out of her house without being escorted by a male family member, said Samar Minallah, a rights activist. Ms. Minallah said she distributed the video to local news media after it was sent to her by someone from Swat three days ago

Another account said that a local Taliban commander had falsely accused the girl of violating Islamic law after she refused to accept his marriage proposal.

A Taliban spokesperson defended the punishment to the GEO television network , but said it should not have been done in public.

Mian Iftikhar Hussain, the information minister of North-West Frontier Province, where Swat is located, also tried to play down the flogging by claiming that the video was recorded in January before the peace agreement. He called it an attempt to sabotage the peace agreement.

Not many seemed willing to countenance the argument.

“This is absurd,” said Athar Minallah, a lawyer who campaigned for the restoration of Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, in a telephone interview. “No one can give justification for such an act. These handful of people have taken the population hostage and the government is trying to patronize them. If the state surrenders, what will happen next?”

Asma Jehangir, one of the country’s leading rights activists, condemned the flogging as “intolerable.”

“This is an eye-opener,” she said in a televised news briefing in Lahore. “Terrorism has seeped into every corner of the country. It is time that every patriotic Pakistani should raise a voice against such atrocities.”

She said she would join other rights activists and citizens in rally against terrorism Saturday in Lahore, where militants stormed a police academy this week. “It will be a peaceful march to show that the people of Lahore will not stay silent,” she said.

Jugnu Mohsin, a peace activist and publisher of Friday Times, the country’s most popular weekly, blamed the military for allowing the Taliban to gain strength and giving the militants a free hand to commit such atrocities.

Ms. Mohsin, along with her husband, Najam Sethi, one of Pakistan’s most renowned journalists, said she had received threats from Islamic extremists.

“I know that the federal and provincial governments are innocent victims and bystanders,” she said. ”The military has handed over the ownership and refuses to fight.”

In February, after 20 months of losing battles against the Taliban in Swat, the government and the military accepted a peace deal and the establishment of Islamic courts in the region. In return, Maulana Fazlullah, the leader of the Taliban in Swat, pledged to lay down the weapons and end the violence.

Those who opposed the deal said it would strengthen the militants and give them time to regroup and tighten their control in Swat.

The government said the agreement would end the violence. Hundreds of schools have been destroyed in Swat, several government officials beheaded and female education banned under the Taliban.

Both President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani condemned the flogging and ordered and investigation.

Mr. Chaudhry has also constituted an eight-member bench in the Supreme Court after taking notice of the video, a news release by the Pakistani court said.

The justice ordered the interior secretary to bring the girl before the court on March 6.

Sherry Rehman, the former information minister and a member of the ruling Pakistan Peoples’ Party, demanded immediate action by the government.

“Ignoring such acts of violence amounts to sanctioning impunity,” Ms. Rehman said in a statement. “The fire in the Swat Valley and our northern regions can engulf other parts of the country, if we do nothing to put it out.”
 

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BBC reports that a powerful explosion heats Pakistani Capital Islamabad

The link and the report from BBC follows herewith :

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7983426.stm


Powerful explosion hits Islamabad
breaking news

A powerful explosion has rocked the heart of Pakistan's capital Islamabad, reports say.

The BBC's Barbara Plett in the city reports hearing a loud blast, although details about the exact location of the blast remain unclear.

There was no immediate information about potential casualties or damage to buildings in the area.

Violence in Pakistan has surged in recent months amid a wave of attacks blamed on Islamist militants.
 

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According to PTI , 8 Paramilitary Soldiers were killed in Islamabad Suicide Attack.

The Link and the Report from PTI are as follows:

http://www.ptinews.com/pti\ptisite.nsf/0/EF5CF227A4D30F8B6525758E0061B74B?OpenDocument


Eight paramilitary soldiers killed in Islamabad suicide attack



Rezaul H Laskar
Islamabad, Apr 4 (PTI) Eight security personnel were killed and five injured when a suicide bomber targeted a camp of paramilitary troops assigned to guard VIPs in the heart of the Pakistani capital near the United Nations office tonight.

The attacker sneaked into a camp of the Frontier Corps located a short distance from the busy Jinnah Super market and blew himself up shortly after 7.30 p m when the paramilitary troops were having dinner, police officials said.

Interior ministry chief Rehman Malik said eight security personnel were killed and five injured, one of them seriously.

He said the suicide bomber took advantage of an apparent security lapse at the camp to carry out the attack.

The 24 Frontier Corps personnel present in the camp belonged to the VIP and Diplomatic Protection Department.

Soon after the blast, the paramilitary troops opened fire. Police officials said that there was no exchange of fire between the security forces and the attacker.

Malik said the attack was carried out by a lone bomber and dismissed reports that other attackers were at large in the area.

Police officials said one suspect had been arrested in the area but did not give details. PTI
 

Rage

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Today epitomized all that was wrong with Pakistan and exemplified the title of this thread: Pakistan's descent into chaos.

In addition to the report above...



5 children amid 17 civilians killed in Miranshah suicide attack



Updated at: 1440 PST, Saturday, April 04, 2009


MIRANSHAH: At least 17 civilians including five children were killed in a suicide attempt on the security forces at the Headquarters of North Waziristan here.

Sources said that Pakistan army convoy was on way from Bannu to Miranshah, when a suicide bomber attempted to ram his explosive-laden vehicle with the convoy, but the FC alert gunmen preventing the attack on convoy blew it up by firing, which unfortunately resulted in the death of 17 civilians including five children, while several were injured, as the spot of incident was crowded with people at that time besides the children were returning from the schools.

Following the blast, Miranshah Bazaar was shut down, while the security forces have besieged the area.


http://www.geo.tv/4-4-2009/39046.htm

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Six hurt in Peshawar blast

Updated at: 1845 PST, Saturday, April 04, 2009


PESHAWAR: At least six persons were hurt in a wielding shop blast on Pajgi road here on Saturday.

According to Peshawar police, a rocket shell placed in wielding shop exploded injuring six persons. The injured were rushed to Lady Reading hospital.


http://www.thenews.com.pk/updates.asp?id=73710

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13 killed as US drone fired two missiles in Datta Khel*

Submitted 23 hrs 15 mins ago
April 04, 2009

Thirteen people were killed in US drone strike in Data Khel in Miranshah. According to sources, US drone fired two missiles at a house of local Tariq Khan in Data Khel killing 13 people.

Some foreigners including three women and 4 children were also reportedly killed in the attack. The bodies have been recovered from the rubbles.

This is the first drone attack in Data Khel. A suspected US missile strike killed 13 people including alleged Al-Qaeda militants in a Pakistan extremist stronghold on the Afghan border on Saturday, security officials said. The strike hit Datta Khel, a small town in the semi-autonomous tribal area of North Waziristan, a known hotbed of Taliban and Al-Qaeda militants, at around 3:00am local time (2200 GMT Friday).

It was not immediately clear whether any high-value targets were killed. "The death toll is 13, including some foreigners, but information is very sketchy because it's a town which is very remote," one security official said on condition of anonymity, updating an earlier figure of eight dead.

"Thirteen people were killed. Ten of them are militants and the identity of the other three -- whether they are militants or civilians -- is not yet confirmed," a local official said, also on condition of anonymity. The local official said the compound that was hit belonged to Tariq Khan, a local Wazir tribesman described as a "facilitator of Taliban." Taliban sealed off the area and prevented local residents from accessing the site, on the border with Afghanistan.


http://www.nation.com.pk/pakistan-n...-as-US-drone-fired-two-missiles-in-Datta-Khel

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Seven hurt in Punjgor grenade attack



Updated at: 1915 PST, Saturday, April 04, 2009


PUNJGOR: At least seven labourers were injured in a hand grenade attack here on Saturday.

According to police sources, unidentified attackers threw two hand grenades in labour colony in Chitkan area in which seven labourers were hurt. The injured include Muhammad Ajmal, Munir Ahmed, Muhammad Nadeem, Ghulam Farid, Muhammad Saddam and Abdul Hameed.

The injured were shifted to civil hospital Punjgor where Ghulam Farid and Muhammad Saddam are stated to be in critical condition.


http://www.thenews.com.pk/updates.asp?id=73713

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Blast reported in Charsadda

Updated at: 2023 PST, Saturday, April 04, 2009

CHARSADDA: A blast has been reported in Charsadda area of Tehsil Shabqadar on Saturday.


http://www.thenews.com.pk/updates.asp?id=73719

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*I include drone attacks here merely out of convention, as it has become the norm to post them here despite my most vehement remonstrances :Laie_63A:
 

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Lahore attack: Pak blame fails Waziristan circumcision test!

Lahore attack: Pak blame fails Waziristan circumcision test!

Omer Farooq Khan | TNN



Islamabad: In the past, jubilant Pakistani authorities have announced that foreign, read Indian, agents were involved in explosions and attacks in the restive Swat region based on examination of the corpses of the killed attackers.
But the acid test cops and officials used to determine whether any of the dead ones was Indian was to check whether the man had been circumcised. If not, they would summarily dub him Hindu and therefore an Indian agent.

But as more such cases showed up, in places where there was not a ghost of a chance of any Indian involvement, doctors and officials began to worry about the methodology. It’s then that they stumbled on a little-known anthropological fact about Pashtun tribes in Waziristan, from where many of the Tehreeke-Taliban or Pakistani Taliban come.
It appears that many in the backward tribal areas of the country like Waziristan don’t undergo the mandatory circumcision that all Muslim males should undergo. The story took a rather comic turn when some of government’s own injured paramilitary soldiers, when examined, were found to be uncircumcised. This was especially true of wounded soldiers of the Frontier Constabulary from Waziristan, engaged in fighting Taliban militants.
Kamran Khan, a legislator from Waziristan in Pakistan’s lower house of Parliament, told TOI that many in the poor tribal areas fail to undergo circumcision because it is either not mandated in their tribal codes or because in many villages there are neither hospitals or even barbers, who perform most circumcisions in rural areas.
“People are either circumcised in hospitals or barbers do the job. Neither we have hospitals in Waziristan nor institution of barbers,’’ Khan said, adding that poor people of Waziristan can’t afford to take their male children to other areas for circumcision.
“I don’t deny there are uncircumcised people in Waziristan but it doesn’t mean that there are no circumcised ones.’’
http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Defa...eLabel=13&EntityId=Ar01301&ViewMode=HTML&GZ=T

:blum3::2guns:
 

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These guys never fail to crack me up!

I have seen many Pakistanis winking on various forums of how the tribals identified the kaafirs from their privates. How foolish they must be feeling now.

The Pakistanis are still living in the medieval age and have no chance in hell to progress ever. Their life still revolves around the religion of the people.
 

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According to BBC a Suicide car bomber attacked a security post in North Western Pakistan killing at least 6 Police and 2 civilians.

The link and the report from BBC follows:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8000724.stm


Suicide car bomber hits Pakistan
Tribal areas map

A suicide car bomber has attacked a security post in north-western Pakistan, killing at least six police and two civilians, police say.

The bomber set off his explosives as he pulled up at a checkpoint in Charsadda, a town near the city of Peshawar.

There has so far been no claim of responsibility for the attack.

But correspondents say Pakistani Taleban militants, allied to al-Qaeda, have carried out numerous such attacks over the past two years.

The bombing shattered windows of buildings near the explosion and destroyed power cables, plunging the area into darkness, police told the BBC.

"We had information that some people from Swat wanted to get into Peshawar to carry out terrorist attacks, so we had beefed up the force at the check post," Peshawar police chief Sifwat Ghyur said.

He said that the bomb left a crater about 3m wide, while the surrounding area is littered with blood spattered bodies and debris.

At least three policeman have been seriously injured in the attack, police say.

The Charsadda district is near the Malakand division - including the picturesque Swat valley - where the government on Monday signed an agreement to enforce Sharia law as part of its efforts to end the long-running insurgency in the north-west.

The district has been hit by several suicide bombings and is home to the chief of the ruling Awami National Party, Asfandyar Wali Khan, who himself narrowly avoided a suicide attack last year.
 

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The Associated Press reports that Pakistani Army targeted by Suicide Attack and 27 killed.

The link and the report from The Associated Press, follows:

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hkiMxbHNH0BqgpWA2ZG6VD6wVTmAD97L05HG0

Suicide strike targets Pakistani army, killing 27

By STEPHEN GRAHAM – 14 hours ago

ISLAMABAD (AP) — A suicide car bomber attacked an army convoy at a checkpoint in northwest Pakistan on Saturday, killing at least 27 people near another emerging militant stronghold within striking distance of the Afghan border.

A deputy of Pakistan's top Taliban leader took responsibility for the bombing near the town of Hangu and said more would follow until the U.S. ends missile attacks into Pakistan's tribal areas.

Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani condemned the assault as a "cowardly act of terrorism" and said the pro-Western government would use an "iron hand" against terrorists and extremists.

While militant attacks are spreading across Pakistan, the onslaught remains fiercest near the Afghan frontier, where al-Qaida fugitives — possibly including Osama bin Laden — have found sanctuary.

The explosion Saturday damaged about a dozen army trucks and jeeps as well as a police station at the checkpoint, said Farid Khan, a senior police official in Hangu.

At least 25 members of the security forces and two civilians died, Khan told The Associated Press by phone from a hospital near the scene. Another 62 security personnel and three civilians were wounded, including the local police chief, other officials said.

Khan said the convoy was about to leave the checkpoint when the bomber exploded his vehicle.

The attack was claimed by Hakeemullah Mehsud, a Taliban commander who vowed earlier this month to carry out two suicide attacks a week to press for the withdrawal of Pakistan troops from the border region and for an end to CIA missile strikes.

"We are meeting our pledge. ... We will intensify our attacks if the drone strikes in the tribal areas do not stop," Mehsud told AP by telephone from an undisclosed location.

Pakistan is under intense international pressure to crack down on an increasingly integrated array of Islamist extremist groups blamed for bloody attacks in Afghanistan, Pakistan and India.

Donors including the U.S, Japan and Saudi Arabia on Friday pledged more than $5 billion to shore up Pakistan's shaky economy and pay for schemes to alleviate poverty and bolster its security forces — twin tracks in a longer-term drive to dry up support for extremism.

Assaults this year in the capital, Islamabad, and on the Sri Lanka cricket team and a police academy in the eastern city of Lahore have fanned fear that militants are expanding across the country and could soon destabilize the state.

The checkpoint hit Saturday is near the Orakzai tribal region, which has emerged in recent months as a major Taliban base. Suicide bombers have targeted community leaders who have sought to rally local tribes against the militants.

An apparent U.S. missile strike reportedly killed 14 suspected militants in Orakzai on April 1, the first such attack in the area since unmanned CIA aircraft stepped up their assault on targets in the tribal belt last year.

The pro-Western government is also calling for and end to the missile strikes, arguing that while they may have killed several militant leaders, they fan anti-American sentiment and help militant groups attract recruits.

Saturday's was the fifth suicide blast in Pakistan so far this month, and the deadliest since 48 worshippers were killed in a mosque in Khyber tribal region in late March.

Hakeemullah Mehsud, a deputy to Pakistani Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud, had previously claimed responsibility for a suicide attack in the capital on April 4 that killed eight paramilitary troops.

Associated Press writers Ishtiaq Mahsud in Dera Ismail Khan, Husnain khan in Parachinar and Riaz Khan in Peshawar contributed to this report.
 

Singh

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27 killed in Hangu suicide attack

* 55 policemen, soldiers wounded as bomber rams explosives-laden vehicle into military convoy passing by a security checkpost

By Saboor Khan

HANGU: At least 27 security personnel were killed and 55 others were injured in a suicide attack on a security checkpost in Doaba area of Hangu district on Saturday, hospital sources said.

Locals told Daily Times that the attack on the checkpoint, about 45 kilometres southwest of Hangu, took place at around 4:15pm when security forces personnel were visiting the area for the inspection.

Two police vehicles were passing by the checkpost when the suicide bomber driving a double-cabin pickup rammed the vehicle into the structure, they said.

The explosion destroyed the checkpost, adjacent building housing troops and police, and eight security forces’ vehicles.

Helicopter gunships hovered over the area after the blast and security forces sealed the site.

Army spokesman Major General Athar Abbas confirmed 16 army and two police deaths. But hospital sources said dead bodies of 27 security personnel had been brought to the Combined Military Hospital in Tull and 48 injured wounded had been admitted to the hospital. Seven injured policemen were being treated in Hangu Hospital. Sixteen of the injured were later shifted to other cities by helicopters.

Doaba Station House Officer Amal Khan, who was also injured in the bombing, told Daily Times at Hangu Hospital that the policemen were on their way back from a raid when the vehicle, coming from the Serozai side, hit the checkpost.

Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and President Asif Ali Zardari condemned the attack as a “cowardly act of terrorism” and said the government would use an “iron hand” against terrorists and extremists, according to an official statement.

A soldier had been killed and seven others injured in a suicide attack on the same checkpost several months ago. No organisation has claimed responsibility for the attack so far

http://dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2009\04\19\story_19-4-2009_pg1_1
 

nitesh

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They are targeting the police which is responsible for law and order if police morale is down the take over becomes much more easy
 

Vinod2070

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Yes, these primitives know what to target!
 

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