Behind the scenes of a Pakistani suicide bombing

M.Riaz

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LAHORE, Pakistan — Abdul Baseer sent the grenades and explosive vest ahead, then boarded a bus that would take him to his target, accompanied by the 14-year-old boy he had groomed as his suicide bomber.

But before they could blow up their target, a luxury hotel in Lahore where they believed Americans would be staying, the two were arrested and are now in jail — Baseer unrepentant about having plotted to send a boy to his death, and the boy saying he never knew what was in store for him.

The story that unfolded in an interview with The Associated Press offers a rare insight into the world of a Pakistani militant, from his education at hard-line Islamic schools, through his professed participation in an attack on a U.S. patrol in Afghanistan, up to his arrest by Pakistani police along with the the boy, Mohi-ud-Din.
His tale shares much with that of the thousands of other foot soldiers who make up the Taliban-led insurgency that is ravaging Pakistan, experts say. It also shows how the wars here and in neighboring Afghanistan bleed into each other.

The Associated Press, after several requests, was allowed to interview the two detainees, with police present for most of the meeting at a police interrogation center in Lahore, a political and military power center in eastern Pakistan.

Baseer was born in 1985 close to the Swat Valley, which last year was overrun by Taliban and recaptured by the Pakistanis.

The eldest of seven children, his father was a wheat farmer and earned barely enough to feed the family. Meat was reserved for guests, he recalled.

Like many who cannot afford a regular education, Baseer attended three Islamic boarding schools where children learn the Quran by heart and spend little time on secular subjects. The religious schools provide free board and lodging, but are widely criticized for indoctrinating students with an extreme version of Islam.

At least one of the schools Baseer attended, Jamia Faridia in the capital, Islamabad, has been linked to terror.

"Through my studies, I became aware that this is the time for jihad and fighting the infidels, and I saw that a jihad was going on in Afghanistan," said Basser, a rail-thin man speaking just louder than whisper. "I looked for a way to get there."

"A trip to Afghanistan is considered part of the profession for a militant," said Imtiaz Gul, director of the Center for Research and Security Studies in Islamabad. "It is almost like you need to do it for graduation.
"The American troops are there, and it's a cause of resentment."

Baseer said he spent three summer vacation periods in Kunar, an Afghan province just across the border from northwest Pakistan, which he reached through a network of sympathetic clerics.

On his first trip, in his mid-teens, he cooked for around 30 or 40 other militants, most of them Afghans, who were living in a large cave complex. On his second stay he had military training and learned to make suicide jackets.

On the final trip he took part in the ambush of a U.S. patrol after he and other fighters had lain in wait in the snow for two days."I was happy to be in place where I could kill unbelievers," he said. "I thank God that we all returned safely and had a successful mission."

He said he was in the rear of the attack, in which automatic weapons and rocket-propelled grenades were fired. He said the vehicles were left smoldering and that later the assailants were told two U.S. soldiers were killed, but there was no way of confirming that.

Back in Pakistan, Baseer worked as a mosque preacher in the Khyber region, not far from the northwestern capital, Peshawar. He said it was there that he hooked up with a man named Nazir, a commander in the Pakistani Taliban, who was plotting the attack in Lahore. Baseer said he made 10 suicide vests for Nazir.


Lahore, a city of around 9 million, has suffered scores of attacks by gunmen and suicide bombers over the last 1 1/2 years. Last month, two suicide bombers killed 43 people in near-simultaneous blasts.
Baseer boarded a passenger bus along with the boy, Mohi-ud-Din, heading down the smooth highway to Lahore, where they were supposed to pick up the bomb and grenades.

Police officer Waris Bharawan, as well as Baseer, said the plan was to hook up with other militants and storm the PC International, one of Lahore's grandest hotels. They said the suicide vest for the attack was sent to the city before the strike.

Baseeer gave only a rough outline of the plan: He and others were to hurl the grenades around the lobby or entrance gate of the hotel, and then Mohid-ud-Din was to run in and detonate his explosive belt.
Did he feel any guilt about what lay in store for his traveling companion? No, he said. "I was feeling good because he was going to be used against Americans."

As he sat in Bharawan's office, handcuffed and dressed in robe and baggy pants, an officer brought in the vest, dropping it on the floor with a thud. The explosive pads studded with ballbearings looked like slices of honeycomb. Also in the evidence bag were 26 grenades.

Baseer obliged with a demonstration, miming the yanking of a white cable that would detonate the vest.
"My instructors used to say this was the most important weapon in the fight against the enemy," he said.

In the same lockup, a crumbling building built when Britain ruled the Indian subcontinent, police also briefly presented Mohi-ud-Din to the AP. He seemed nervous and tongue-tied, claiming only that he knew nothing about the alleged attack.

The pair were arrested as they arrived at the house of another suspect, just days before the attack was due to have taken place, said Bharawan, who led the arresting officers. He said they acted on surveillance work in Lahore, but declined to give details.






http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iB6WVMoCehVftAToR1ucm2QHeFUgD9F5IP300
 

BunBunCake

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Wow, this is really sad.
You know what you should do?

Educate your children more. NOT on the Qur'an. But on LIFE, and general knowledge first.
A friend of mine (from Pakistan) told me that she has been educated in Pakistan, and during that time in her early years, she was taught the Qur'an and principles of Islam.

Geez.
Keep continuing teaching just Qur'an lessons and the rest of Pakistan will be brainwashed by the Taliban too.

Also, India is a "hindu" country (according to Pakistanis) but while in India for 8 years of my child hood, I've never been taught anything related to Hinduism. Though I remember some of my teacher occasionally making REFERENCE to the Mahabharata, or other texts to provide us some moral sense.

I went to a Christian School.
 
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A.V.

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i am sure that teaching the quran is anything bad or it does teach anything wrong without going into religious details let me say none of the religious scriptures teach violence but the problem is with what you make out of it normally people twist the words and use it to their advantage to brainwash young minds thats a failure of the state the society who cannot curb this menace its not only in islamic world this trend is everywhere these religious scriptures needs to be updated and modified as per the time the problem is people fail to see that these were a reflection of those times during modern times we need a updated approach
 

Yusuf

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The Quran is a wealth of knowledge if it is utilized the way it was supposed to be by Allah by way of HIS revelations to the Prophet (PBUH).
Nothing wrong in learning the Quran, but modern education is also important. Both run hand in hand. Its actually the failing of the governments social policy and responsibility that has led to young children being lured into the brainwashing madrasas who also offer food to lure the poor kids and their families.
Had the government not failed in its responsibilities, we would not have had these kids going to these brainwash centers.

If we see the Indian govt policy, the mid day meal scheme is a huge draw for young kids as it takes care of at least one meal a day (not considering the failure to implement it an even better way by self serving officers).
 

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