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Pakistan: Blasts kill 80 to avenge bin Laden death

Fri, 13 May 2011 12:03:00 +0000

A pair of suicide bombers attacked recruits leaving a paramilitary training center in Pakistan on Friday, killing 80 people in the first retaliation for the killing of Osama bin Laden by American commandos last week.

The blasts in the northwest were a reminder of the savagery of al-Qaida-linked militants in Pakistan. They occurred even as the country faces international suspicion that elements within its security forces may have been harboring bin Laden, who was killed in a raid in Abbottabad, about a three hours' drive from the scene of the bombing.

"We have done this to avenge the Abbottabad incident," Ahsanullah Ahsan, a spokesman for the Pakistani Taliban, told The Associated Press in a phone call. He warned that the group was also planning attacks on Americans living inside Pakistan.

The bombers blew themselves up in Shabqadar at the main gate of the facility for the Frontier Constabulary, a poorly equipped but front-line force in the battle against al-Qaida and allied Islamist groups like the Pakistani Taliban close to the Afghan border. Like other branches of Pakistan's security forces, it has received U.S. funding to try to sharpen its skills.

Pakistani officials say U.S. drone strike kills 4

Fri, 10 Dec 2010 16:15:00 +0000

Pakistani intelligence officials say a U.S. drone strike has killed 4 suspected militants in northwest Pakistan.

The officials say Friday's strike destroyed a vehicle in Mir Ali town in North Waziristan. The identity of those killed was not immediately known.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) -- A car bomb exploded outside a hospital for Shiite Muslims that is under construction in northwestern Pakistan on Friday, killing at least 10 people, police said.

Suicide bombers kill 50 in Pakistan

Mon, 06 Dec 2010 17:59:00 +0000

Two militants wearing vests studded with explosives and bullets blew themselves up outside a government-backed meeting of anti-Taliban tribesmen close to the Afghan border Monday, killing 50 people and wounding 100 others.

The strike in Mohmand region underscored the tenacity of the Islamist uprising in the northwest despite Pakistani army offensives over the last 2 1/2 years. The operations have retaken areas where militants enjoyed safe haven, but authorities have struggled to hold onto the gains.

The tribally administered region is home to thousands of militants staging or supporting attacks on American troops fighting a related insurgency in Afghanistan. It also houses al-Qaida leaders and operatives from around the world plotting attacks on the West.

The United States is squeezing the insurgents with missiles fired from unmanned drones. The frequency of such attacks has surged under the Obama administration. In the most recent strike, seven people were killed Monday in a different part of the tribal area from where the suicide bombing took place, Pakistani intelligence officials said.

53 killed in Pakistan mosque bombings

Fri, 05 Nov 2010 16:15:00 +0000

A suicide bomber struck a mosque frequented by anti-Taliban tribal elders in northwestern Pakistan during afternoon prayers Friday, killing at least 50 people in one of the deadliest attacks this year.

Later in the day, three grenade blasts killed at least three people at another mosque in the troubled Afghan border region.

The blasts were the latest to hit religious gatherings and underscored the relentless security challenge in the U.S.-allied nation, where Islamist militants have managed to strike at the state and citizens who work against them despite pressure from army offensives.

In the first attack, the Sunni mosque's roof collapsed as hundreds of worshippers were gathered inside for the most popular prayer session of the week, and many victims were trapped in the debris.

People in private vehicles rushed the wounded to hospitals in Peshawar, the main city in the northwest, TV footage showed. A woman was beating her head, while two elderly men in blood-soaked clothes rested in a hospital corridor.

The explosion occurred in Darra Adam Khel, an area famous for its illegal weapons bazaars and located near Pakistan's tribal regions where Taliban-led militants have been active.

Car bomb in Pakistan kills 12

Tue, 07 Sep 2010 16:47:00 +0000

A car bomb ripped through a police compound in a northwestern Pakistani city on Tuesday, killing 11 women and children and one officer, the latest in a string of attacks proving that Islamist militants remain a potent force in the country.

The dead were the wives and children of police officers, said Khalid Omarzai, the city's top government official. Another 60 people were wounded.

The complex in the garrison city of Kohat houses officers' homes, a training facility and a commercial area.

Officer Mohammad Arif said there was a huge explosion in the residential area of the compound soon after the evening breaking of the daily fast during the holy month of Ramadan. Power to the area was cut, forcing emergency workers to search for victims in the dark, he said.

Kohat, the major town on the road between the provincial capital of Peshawar and several tribal areas, has been the scene of several militant attacks this year. In April, two burqa-clad suicide bombers attacked refugees lined up to register for food and other relief supplies in the district, killing 41 people and wounding dozens more.

"This city is a war zone. We would always expect such attacks," said Omarzai, the government official.

Blast in Pakistan’s Swat Valley kills 5, wounds 58

Thu, 15 Jul 2010 12:51:00 +0000

An apparent suicide bombing near a bus terminal in Pakistan's Swat Valley killed five people and wounded at least 58 on Thursday, officials said, a sign that Islamist militants remain active in the northwest region despite a massive army operation.

The explosion went off around noon in Mingora, the main town in the one-time tourist haven that was overrun by the Taliban in 2007.

Pakistani TV footage showed vehicles bent and twisted due to the force of the blast. Some men were desperately trying to open the doors of a car to reach a woman and man sitting in the front who were bloodied and appeared unconscious.

The area struck was crowded, so the death toll could rise significantly. Senior police official Qazi Ghulam Farooq said five people died, including two women, and that officials believed a suicide bomber was involved. At least 58 people were wounded, he said.

The Pakistan military launched its biggest operation against the Taliban in Swat in 2009 after a failed attempt at a peace deal that included pledges to impose Islamic law in the area. The operation forced some 2 million people to flee, but after a few months, the army said it had taken control and many of the refugees returned home.

Suicide bombers kill 62, wound 111 in Pakistan

Fri, 09 Jul 2010 14:08:12 +0000

A pair of suicide bombers struck outside a government office Friday in a tribal region where the army has fought the Taliban, killing 62 people and wounding 111 in one of the deadliest attacks in Pakistan this year.

The attack showed that Islamist militants remain a potent force in the northwest tribal belt bordering Afghanistan, despite army offensives and U.S. missile strikes aimed at wiping them out. Washington is watching closely how Pakistan handles its militant crisis, pushing the South Asian country to wage war on Taliban and al-Qaida fighters who use its territory to plan attacks inside Afghanistan.

The bombers detonated their explosives near the Yakaghund village office of Rasool Khan, a deputy administrator of the Mohmand tribal region, who escaped unharmed. At least one bomber was on a motorcycle.

Some 70 to 80 shops were damaged or destroyed, while damage to a prison building allowed 28 prisoners -- ordinary criminals, not militants -- to flee, Khan said. One of the bombs appeared fairly small but the other was huge, and they went off within seconds of each other, officials said.

Video footage showed dozens of men searching through piles of yellow brick and mud rubble for survivors.

Pakistani officials confirm Taliban chief is dead

Wed, 10 Feb 2010 14:01:00 +0000

Pakistani Taliban chief Hakimullah Mehsud has died, the country's top civilian security official told The Associated Press on Wednesday. It was the government's first categorical confirmation of the death of the feared militant, whose passing is likely to weaken, but not vanquish, the al-Qaida-linked insurgent network he led.

In a sign of the continued militant threat, a suicide bomber rammed his car into a vehicle carrying tribal police near Pakistan's volatile border with Afghanistan, killing 10 policemen, said a local government official.

Reports of Mehsud's death emerged after a spate of U.S. missiles hit his stronghold in Pakistan's northwestern tribal belt in mid-January. Mehsud was said to have died of wounds suffered in one of the strikes in the Waziristan region -- another big victory for the CIA-led missile campaign that killed Mehsud's predecessor just six months ago.

The Taliban have repeatedly denied his death, but backed off an initial promise to prove the 28-year-old was still alive. The militant group also denied his predecessor's death for weeks until the succession question was settled.

Gloom, fury as Pakistan death toll nears 100

Sat, 02 Jan 2010 17:35:00 +0000

Tribal elders in a Pakistani village where a suicide car bomber killed nearly 100 people insisted Saturday that residents will keep defying the Taliban, even as the bloodshed laid bare the risks facing the citizens' militias that make up a key piece of Pakistan's arsenal against extremism.

The New Year's Day attack on the northwest village of Shah Hasan Khel was one of the deadliest in a surge of bombings that has killed more than 600 across Pakistan since October. Police believe the attacker meant to detonate his 550 pounds (250 kilograms) of explosives at a meeting of tribesmen who supervise an anti-Taliban militia. Instead, the blast went off at a nearby outdoor volleyball court, killing at least 96 people.

The explosion leveled some three dozen mud-brick homes and covered the village with dust, smoke and the smell of burning flesh. On Saturday, numerous homes received visitors offering condolences, and funeral prayers were held. Many of the residents in the village of 5,000, which lies near Pakistan's militant-filled tribal belt, were too scared to name any possible culprits, but others were defiant.

Suicide bombing kills 88 in Pakistan

Sat, 02 Jan 2010 04:26:00 +0000

A suicide bomber detonated his explosives-packed vehicle in a crowd of people watching a volleyball tournament in northwest Pakistan, killing 88 people in the deadliest attack in the country in more than two months.

The attack in Lakki Marwat city on Friday appeared to be retaliation against residents who formed militias to drive militants out of the area and a meeting of anti-Taliban leaders being held nearby may have been the actual target, police said.

The blast underscores the difficulty Pakistan has had in stopping militants whose reach extends far beyond Pakistan's lawless tribal belt and who appear increasingly willing to strike civilians as well as security forces.

The attack was not far from South Waziristan, where the army is waging an offensive against the Pakistani Taliban. That operation has provoked apparent reprisal attacks that have killed more than 500 people since October.

No group claimed responsibility for Friday's blast, but that is not uncommon when large numbers of civilians are killed.

"The locality has been a hub of militants. Locals set up a militia and expelled the militants from this area. This attack seems to be reaction to their expulsion," local police chief Ayub Khan told reporters.

Police: Suicide bombing kills 75 in northwest Pakistan

Fri, 01 Jan 2010 20:11:00 +0000

A suicide bomber detonated his explosives-packed vehicle in a crowd of people watching a volleyball tournament Friday in northwest Pakistan, killing 75 people in the deadliest attack in the country in more than two months.

The attack in Lakki Marwat city appeared to be retaliation against residents who formed militias to drive militants out of the area, police said.

No group claimed responsibility for Friday's blast, but that is not uncommon when large numbers of civilians are killed.

Bomb kills 80 in Pakistan; Hillary 3 hours away

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 07:00:00 +0000

A car bomb tore through a market popular with women in northwestern Pakistan on Wednesday, killing 86 people hours after U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton arrived in the country to show American support for its campaign against Islamist militants.

More than 200 people were wounded in the blast in the main northwestern city of Peshawar, the deadliest in a surge of attacks this month. The government blamed militants seeking to avenge an army offensive launched this month against al-Qaida and Taliban in their stronghold close to the Afghan border.

The blast hit a market selling bangles, dresses and toys in an old part of town crisscrossed with narrow alleys. It set scores of shops on fire, collapsed buildings, including a mosque, and sent a cloud of gray smoke over the city. TV footage showed wounded people sitting amid the debris as people grabbed at the wreckage, trying to pull out survivors before carrying them to a hospital.

One two-story building collapsed as firefighters doused it with water.

Clinton, on her first visit to Pakistan as secretary of state, was three hours' drive away in the capital, Islamabad, when the blast took place. Speaking to reporters, she praised the army's anti-Taliban offensive in South Waziristan and offered U.S. support.