August 28, 2008
AT least 10 people, including police officers and prison staff, died in a suicide attack Thursday in a garrison town in northwest Pakistan as they headed to work, a police official told AFP.
The incident was the latest in a series of deadly attacks to hit Pakistan since the resignation of Pervez Musharraf as president, with the country's fragile coalition government struggling to combat Islamic militancy.
“The van was carrying policemen and jail staff when it was hit by an explosives-laden car which was used in the attack,” said Bannu police official Najeebullah, who uses only one name.
“Ten people, mostly police and prison workers, were killed in the attack,” he said.
The van that was targeted in the head-on collision was normally used to carry prisoners to court and then back to jail.
Bannu is a garrison town situated 250 kilometres (150 miles) southwest of the Pakistani capital Islamabad and is close to the country's lawless tribal areas bordering Afghanistan.
The region has been wracked by violence since hundreds of Taliban and Al-Qaeda rebels fled there after the US-led invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001.
Tahir Shah, a local police chief, said the jail van had been targeted in Thursday's attack.
“When it reached Kurram Bridge another vehicle standing near exploded,” he said, giving a separate account of the incident.
“The jail van fell into the river. Preliminary investigations show at least nine police personnel were killed.”
A senior doctor at Bannu hospital confirmed that eight bodies had been taken there along with 12 injured people.
“All the bodies are of police officials who were killed in the attack,” Dr Shahab-ud-Din told AFP.
Pakistan has been hit by a rising tide of Islamic militancy in the past year. The country's political future remains up in the air, with an election set for September 6 to choose a successor to Musharraf, who quit as president on August 18.
Musharraf had been a key ally of the United States in its efforts to combat militancy on the Pakistani border with Afghanistan, a region Washington says is being used as a launching pad for rebel attacks on coalition forces.
But violence linked to Islamabad's role in the “war on terror” has seen nearly 1,200 people killed in suicide and bomb attacks across the nation.
Pakistani troops killed up to 50 militants, including foreign fighters, in the country's tribal regions on Wednesday amid a fresh upsurge in Taliban-inspired bloodshed.
There is also an ongoing military operation in the Bajaur tribal area to combat militants.
For the past three weeks troops backed by helicopter gunships have been engaged in clashes there with militants. The battles have seen more than 500 people killed and 260,000 displaced.
AT least 10 people, including police officers and prison staff, died in a suicide attack Thursday in a garrison town in northwest Pakistan as they headed to work, a police official told AFP.
The incident was the latest in a series of deadly attacks to hit Pakistan since the resignation of Pervez Musharraf as president, with the country's fragile coalition government struggling to combat Islamic militancy.
“The van was carrying policemen and jail staff when it was hit by an explosives-laden car which was used in the attack,” said Bannu police official Najeebullah, who uses only one name.
“Ten people, mostly police and prison workers, were killed in the attack,” he said.
The van that was targeted in the head-on collision was normally used to carry prisoners to court and then back to jail.
Bannu is a garrison town situated 250 kilometres (150 miles) southwest of the Pakistani capital Islamabad and is close to the country's lawless tribal areas bordering Afghanistan.
The region has been wracked by violence since hundreds of Taliban and Al-Qaeda rebels fled there after the US-led invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001.
Tahir Shah, a local police chief, said the jail van had been targeted in Thursday's attack.
“When it reached Kurram Bridge another vehicle standing near exploded,” he said, giving a separate account of the incident.
“The jail van fell into the river. Preliminary investigations show at least nine police personnel were killed.”
A senior doctor at Bannu hospital confirmed that eight bodies had been taken there along with 12 injured people.
“All the bodies are of police officials who were killed in the attack,” Dr Shahab-ud-Din told AFP.
Pakistan has been hit by a rising tide of Islamic militancy in the past year. The country's political future remains up in the air, with an election set for September 6 to choose a successor to Musharraf, who quit as president on August 18.
Musharraf had been a key ally of the United States in its efforts to combat militancy on the Pakistani border with Afghanistan, a region Washington says is being used as a launching pad for rebel attacks on coalition forces.
But violence linked to Islamabad's role in the “war on terror” has seen nearly 1,200 people killed in suicide and bomb attacks across the nation.
Pakistani troops killed up to 50 militants, including foreign fighters, in the country's tribal regions on Wednesday amid a fresh upsurge in Taliban-inspired bloodshed.
There is also an ongoing military operation in the Bajaur tribal area to combat militants.
For the past three weeks troops backed by helicopter gunships have been engaged in clashes there with militants. The battles have seen more than 500 people killed and 260,000 displaced.
Source: The Australian
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